Ignis Bellator
by Mexicano27
Summary: What would have happened if Naruto had argued against being put in Sasuke's team a little earlier and a little more fiercely? Iruka's decision of what to do will alter the very course of Konoha's history forever. Story will be rewritten. Please read author's note.
1. Forming Teams

Hello everyone. Mexicano27 here again. If you checked out this story at any point in the past year, you'd know that for quite a while now I've been busy editing many of the chapters of this story in an effort to bring it up to a standard of quality that I'd be happy with. Unfortunately, the longer I worked at this, the clearer it became that it was an impossible task. I simply screwed things up too badly.

In my mind, the only solution is to scrap all the chapters and start over from the beginning. For this reason, I've decided that I'm going to delete every single chapter except for the very first one, then start the story over in what will hopefully be a much improved version.

I'd delete the entire story, but I did have to consider the fact that it has just over 600 subscribers. Unless they had also subscribed to my author profile, this story would simply disappear from their list and they'd have no idea what happened; they'd likely assume that it was abandoned, when that's not the case.

For old readers who have been following this story (and still remember after all this time what happened in it), I'd like for you to know that, for better or worse, the plot will remain virtually _exactly the same_ as its current version. Was there a scene or plot point about this story that you really liked? It'll almost certainly appear in the rewrite. Was there a scene or plot point that you really hated? Again, it'll almost certainly still be in the story. Five years ago when I wrote this, I rushed to crap out chapter after chapter as quickly as I could manage, and as a result I skipped, ignored, or forgot things that deserved much better focus than they received. In the rewrite, some chapters will be shorter, some story arcs will be longer, and hopefully the story won't be the enormous steaming pile of shit it is right now.

This note is going to be posted at the beginning of both the first and last chapters of the story, and I'll leave it up for approximately a month, so that old and new readers alike will know what's going on. Once a month has passed, I'll be deleting every single chapter except for the first, and I'll begin posting the rewrite.

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**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 1: Forming Teams_

Iruka Umino had had a long day. Or at least, that's how it felt to him, even though it was perhaps midmorning at the latest. It was all Naruto's fault, as usual. And as usual, he did his best to stay out of the whole affair as much as he could. Today's "Naruto Catastrophe" had had something to do with him kissing someone, causing almost all of the girls in the class to gang up on him and beat him to a bloody pulp. Iruka had no idea what the hell that was about, but seeing that Naruto wasn't seriously wounded, he simply stayed at his desk.

Today was an especially important day. He had spent the past month cobbling Genin teams together, doing his best to get them nice and balanced so they could have a chance at passing the test their new Jonin instructors would put them through. Despite his efforts, he knew that most of the class was doomed to fail; traditionally, very few teams passed their Jonin's first test. Iruka could admit to himself that he had favored some students over others. He had to, in a sense: why would he put a child with poor motivation and lousy grades in a team with a very competent student? That team would likely end up failing, and the student with the potential would be held back from beginning their ninja career.

Naruto may have had lousy grades, but he was clearly one of the most determined and motivated students in the entire class. In Iruka's opinion, he deserved as much as anyone to begin working as a Genin, and learn what it really meant to be a ninja. Accordingly, Iruka had set up a nice team for the little troublemaker, teaming him up with both Sakura, one of the most intelligent kunoichi in the class, and Sasuke, the most capable student in the class, dubbed by the instructors as the rookie of the year. Put in the same team as those two, Naruto couldn't possibly fail at his Jonin's first test!

It might have been cheating, sort of, but…well, Iruka owed him this much, at least, for having his life saved from Mizuki. Though he had at first thought that letting Naruto graduate the Academy was enough of a reward, he had later realized that it wasn't. Naruto had displayed the skill and resolve required to become a true ninja, and Iruka knew that that was the sort of potential he should do his best to help along. There was no doubt in the instructor's mind that Naruto would grow up to be a highly valuable asset to the village. Giving him skilled teammates wasn't a mere personal favor; the sooner he became a Genin, the sooner he'd succeed in getting promoted, and the more he'd be able to contribute to the Leaf.

Iruka returned his thoughts to the present and got up from his desk. Moving to stand up in front of the class, he saw that most of the students had settled down after the previous uproar. He saw Naruto, looking beaten and dazed, sitting at the same row as his soon-to-be team members. All the better! Naruto was probably already making friends with both of them.

Taking a closer look at Sakura, however, he noted that she was glowering at Naruto. Frowning, he wondered if Sakura had been one of the girls that had been whaling on Naruto earlier. Iruka looked around at the classroom briefly. What girl _hadn't_ been beating up Naruto earlier?

His eyes slid over to a girl with dark hair near the door. _She_ hadn't moved from her seat once since she had arrived. Yup, the Hyuga girl was certainly a funny one. Iruka recalled putting her in the same team as Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka. They all came from renowned clans, so they would probably get along fine. Flawless logic, to be sure.

Well, the class was quiet enough. Iruka addressed them all as he stood before them with his list of teams.

"As of today, you are all ninjas," he began. His speeches always seemed to begin by him stating the obvious. "To get here you have faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult. Now you are only Genin, first-level ninjas. All the Genin will be grouped into three-man squads. Each squad will be led by a Jonin, an elite ninja."

The entire class seemed to be in shock, which confused Iruka. He had figured that the vast majority of the students would have already known this. Hadn't any of their parents told their children old war stories (Naruto and Sasuke excluded, both being orphans)?

Whatever. Iruka cleared his throat and began calling out the teams starting with Team 1.

Eventually, he got to Team 7, Naruto's team.

"Team Seven," he said. "Naruto Uzumaki. Sakura Haruno—" He was interrupted by a loud cheer from Naruto, who had stood up and lifted his arms over his head in elation. Apparently, he was pretty happy about having Sakura in his team; Iruka couldn't help pausing slightly in confusion. He had thought that Sakura might have been at least partly responsible for the thrashing Naruto had just been given, but judging by Naruto's reaction, that wasn't the case. He could scarcely imagine that anyone would actually cheer about the news that they were being placed in a team with someone who had attacked them. He saw that Sakura, for her part, was not happy with this arrangement. She wailed and hung her head in disappointment.

Sighing inwardly, Iruka shook his head slightly as his gaze returned to the list in his hand. He had no idea what was going on between those two, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Sasuke Uchiha," he finished. This time, Sakura let out an elated cheer of her own, in a fashion very similar to Naruto's. Naruto, unfortunately, was less than happy. Instead of hanging his head in disappointment like Sakura had, though, he had jumped to his feet in rage.

"Iruka-sensei, _no_!" he bellowed, and the class reeled in shock. "Don't put me in the same team as that jerk!" Naruto looked furious. Iruka was surprised at Naruto's rudeness, but recovered quickly, adopting a stern expression as he narrowed his eyes.

"You were put in the same team as Sasuke because the teams are meant to be balanced, Naruto. Sasuke is the most talented ninja in the class. You, on the other hand, have the worst grades in the entire class." The class erupted into laughter, but Naruto was unfazed.

"I don't care! Sasuke sucks! Put me in a team with someone else, anyone else, _please_!"

At this, the Chunin's expression softened slightly, his brow furrowing with worry.

"Naruto…" Iruka was now unsure about the arrangement he had thought was so fantastic earlier. If Naruto was acting like this now, how bad would things get with Sasuke further down the line? Would they even stand a chance at passing their Jonin's test if Naruto continued to behave like this?

By now, most of the class had recovered from their surprise at his outburst, with many of them murmuring amongst themselves. Sakura, however, flung herself at Naruto in blind rage and began strangling him, and Naruto's face turned several shades of blue. Sasuke merely glared at the two, clearly not caring one way or another. To Iruka's surprise, another one of his students, Ino Yamanaka, suddenly spoke up.

"I think that Naruto has a point, Iruka-sensei," she said sweetly. "Sasuke doesn't belong in the same team as those two. Why don't you put him in, ummm…you know, someone else's team?" She then flashed Iruka a huge grin, leaving no doubt as to whose team she thought Sasuke should be in. Sakura got up off of Naruto and started yelling, too.

"No sensei, we'll make a perfect team! I mean, I'd be good in a team with Sasuke! Put Naruto in another team, not Sasuke!"

This seemed to get the entire class in another uproar, with students clamoring about how they didn't like someone in their set teams and wanted them switched out for someone they liked better.

Iruka looked around the classroom in desperation. _Goddamn it, Naruto!_

Naruto had torn his headband off at this point, and had by all appearances stomped on it several times in an outburst of rage; Sakura looked furious and was tearing at her pink hair in a fit. Both of them were screaming something at him, but he couldn't possibly make any of it out. Out of the entire classroom, Iruka saw a mere four students who weren't trying to get their teams changed, or, if their teams had yet to be chosen, trying to tell Iruka exactly who they wanted in their team. The Hyuga girl sat quietly at her corner, and the Aburame boy was behaving in a similar fashion, looking devoid of all emotion. Sasuke still had his hands folded in front of him, and he glared at anyone in his line of sight. In the row above him, Shikamaru Nara was also uninterested by all the commotion…he had fallen asleep.

"_Everyone shut up_!" Iruka roared. The class immediately quieted down, but Iruka knew that that wouldn't last much longer. Someone would pipe up, and set everyone off all over again. He looked down at his list quickly and desperately.

He skipped past Team 7 and looked at the next person on the list. In his anger, he didn't even bother to think of the consequences that would happen by changing the teams. All he knew was that Naruto and Sasuke would not mix, and he needed to make a firm decision that would stand a chance at working and would shut the rest of the students up.

"Team Seven!" he yelled out angrily, starting over from the beginning. "Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Hinata Hyuga! That is Team Seven!"

"Y-Yes, sir," said the Hyuga girl softly, so quiet that he could barely hear her. Her compliance was drowned out by Sakura's shriek.

"Iruka-sensei, _no_!" she screamed, looking as though she were on the verge of tears. Iruka didn't care.

"Shut up!" he yelled at her. "If anyone has any problems with their team, hand me your headband now!" Sakura planted herself down in her seat and said nothing more, but began sobbing.

"Team Eight," he continued with a growl. "Sasuke Uchiha. Kiba Inuzuka. Shino Aburame." Sasuke was from a clan, so maybe his "kids-from-a-clan-get-along-fine thesis" was still valid. None of them seemed to have any problems with their team, but Ino let out a strangled cry.

"Ino, do you want to quit as a ninja?" he asked threateningly. She hung her head and shook it.

"Good," he said. He got past Team 9 with no problems. When he put Ino in the same team as Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi, she groaned out loud, but otherwise made no protest. Iruka couldn't even tell if Shikamaru had been awake to hear his new team.

Iruka looked up at the ceiling and thanked God that everything had worked out fine. He sighed and concentrated once again on more earthly matters.

"After lunch, you'll meet your new Jonin teachers," he said tiredly. "Until then, class dismissed." The students grumpily filed out, most of them unhappy with their squads. Naruto, however, looked perfectly happy with his revised team, a huge grin on his face as he strutted out the door. _He better be happy with his team,_ Iruka thought angrily. _After all the trouble I go through for him to try and make sure he passes, he thanks me by yelling at me and getting the entire class rioting…  
_

He returned to his desk and collapsed into his seat.

Naruto still had a chance at passing his Jonin's exam, right? The Hyuga Clan had the Byakugan. And if Hinata was even halfway competent at using the Gentle Fist style, that would make her a dangerous opponent. Yes, Naruto still had a good chance. He managed to convince himself that he had made the right decision in switching Sasuke with Hinata, and calmed down from his earlier panic. Naruto was put in the best team possible now. Sakura was smart, Naruto was strong, and Hinata was…well, he was sure that Hinata had her virtues. The important thing was that she wouldn't be arguing with her teammates.

And even after later learning that Sakura had tried to stab Naruto in a failed attempt to kill him, Iruka was confident that things would work out in the end. They almost always did.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"It is not true that life is one damn thing after another—it is one damn thing over and over."

- Edna St. Vincent Milay


	2. Teamwork

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 2: Teamwork_

Naruto Uzumaki was bored to tears. Team 7 had been left waiting in Iruka's classroom far longer than any other team, and there wasn't anything to do. Their new Jonin instructor had yet to arrive, and Naruto was constantly peeking out the door and into the hallway, much to the annoyance of Sakura.

"Naruto, just sit down!" she yelled at him, and sent him a death glare. Naruto glanced at her and grimaced. The last time she had looked at him like that, she had had a kunai in her hand behind her back and had tried to shove it into his chest when he was off guard.

However, he was still pretty pissed at their instructor, and decided that a little payback was necessary. "I don't want to! How come our teacher's the only one that's late? I'm ready to roll, believe it! The other groups already met their new teachers and took off on some adventure or something, and Iruka-sensei's gone, too!"

"I know, okay?" said Sakura exasperatedly. As much as she hated Naruto, she at least conceded that simple agreement. "Hey, what are you doing? Naruto!"

Right in front of Sakura and Hinata, he had grabbed a stool and one of the erasers off of the blackboard. He ignored Sakura and stuck the eraser in the space between the door and the wall. It was the perfect booby trap!

"That's what he gets for coming in late. Surprise!" he cackled, jumping off the stool.

"You're asking for trouble," Sakura scolded him. "You know you shouldn't do that!"

"He's coming," said a quiet voice. Naruto turned to look at Hinata, surprised. She hardly ever talked, and always seemed to be blushing. He had talked to her once or twice before being put on the same team as her, and had tried striking up a conversation with her maybe once ever since they had been. As far as he was concerned, she was weird and shy as hell, but at least she was cute, and most importantly, she wasn't Sasuke.

"What? How can you know-" Naruto was interrupted by the door opening. In amazement, he turned and saw his eraser fall on top of the head of the entering Jonin, some weirdo with a mask covering most of his face and a mess of snow-white hair. He burst out laughing. "I got him, he totally fell for it!" said Naruto, laughing hysterically and pointing at his victim.

"I'm sorry, sensei!" said Sakura. "I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen! I'd never do anything like that!"

Did a tiny giggle come from behind Naruto, or was he just imagining it? Probably the second one.

"Hmm, how can I put this?" their sensei said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Only one of his eyes was visible; his headband covered the other one. It looked like he was trying to reveal as little of his face as possible without completely blinding himself. "My first impression of this group… you're a bunch of idiots."

The trio's faces fell. Team 7 was not off to a great start.

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Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, and Kakashi were on the roof of the Academy. The three Genin sat side-by-side on the steps underneath the decorative arches, and Kakashi had sat himself down, with his arms crossed, on the railing in front of them, keeping most of his body weight forward so as to not plummet to the ground below.

"Alright," he began. His voice was a peculiar one; it sounded like he was permanently bored. "Why don't you introduce yourselves, one at a time?"

"Introduce ourselves?" asked Sakura, confused. "Well, what are we supposed to say?"

"Things you like," replied Kakashi dully. "Things you hate. Dreams for the future. Hobbies. Things like that." He shrugged, then folded his arms back across his chest. By the tone of his voice, Kakashi couldn't have cared less about any of those things.

"Why don't you tell us stuff first?" Naruto asked. "I mean, before we talk, tell us about you so we see how it's supposed to work." Naruto was still trying to get used to this weird Jonin, and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Sakura by revealing the wrong sort of personal information.

"Me?" asked their sensei, pointing at himself. "I'm Kakashi Hatake." He seemed no more excited about talking about himself than he was to hear the Genin talk about themselves. "Things I like and things I hate… I don't feel like telling you that. My dreams for the future… never really thought about it. As for my hobbies, I have lots of hobbies."

Naruto was still trying to figure out exactly how much Kakashi had actually told them when Sakura murmured to him and Hinata, "That was totally useless! All he really told us was his name!"

"Uh-huh," replied Naruto, seeing the light. He knew that there was something funny about the way Kakashi had been talking to them!

"Okay, your turn," said Kakashi commandingly. "You on the right first."

Naruto realized that the Jonin was referring to him. "Believe it!" he began enthusiastically. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki. I like instant ramen in a cup, and I really like the ramen Iruka-sensei got me at Ichiraku Noodle Shop," he said, and remembered how good it tasted, especially after Iruka had given him his new headband for defeating Mizuki. He continued where he left off, saying, "But I hate the three minutes you have to wait after you pour the water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them. And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage!" he stated enthusiastically. "Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and treat me like I'm somebody, somebody important!" He didn't even feel remorseful about the reason he wanted to be Hokage. He knew that he would achieve his dream eventually and set everything right.

_Well, he's grown up in an interesting way…_ thought Kakashi to himself. "Alright, next!" he ordered.

There was a moment of silence, since it wasn't very clear who the next person to talk should be. Logically, it should have gone left to right starting with Sakura from the beginning and ending with Naruto. Hinata should have gone second either way. However, when it became clear that she wasn't about to speak up, Sakura took her place and introduced herself instead.

"I'm Sakura Haruno," she said, sounding depressed. "I like… someone who should be on this team, _except_ _Naruto ruined it!_" she yelled, and glared at the blond. Naruto did his best to avoid eye contact with her, the same way one would avoid meeting the gaze of a cougar. "My plans for the future are… were…no, he still is…" she gave Naruto another glare, but didn't elaborate. Clearly, Naruto wasn't the "he" she dreamed about.

"And what do you hate?" asked Kakashi, although he had a pretty good guess about what her answer would be.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted. Hinata jumped slightly in shock at Sakura's outburst, and Naruto lost himself in grief at hearing just how much his crush hated him. To him, there seemed to be a huge difference between having her try to kill him and simply saying that she hated him.

Kakashi acted as if he hadn't even heard and turned to Hinata next. "Okay, why don't you go now?" he said, almost kindly.

Hinata gasped and looked up at her sensei in horror. She was touching her upper lip in what appeared to be some an odd sort of tic and her eyes darted to several places before finally concentrating on a crack in the cement before her.

"I, I, uh, my name is Hinata Hyuga," she managed to say. Naruto looked at her curiously. Why was she acting so strangely?

Hinata made an audible gulp and squirmed slightly. "I like… I like…" Her lavender eyes darted to Sakura and then to Naruto at an almost untraceable speed before resting on Kakashi's feet. "I like… training!" she gasped out. "I like training so that I can improve myself!" She looked up at Kakashi's face, perhaps for a sign of approval, but his visible eye displayed what appeared to be amusement, of all things.

"Go on, " he said mildly. "Is there anything you hate?"

"I… nothing in particular…" she stammered. She clamped her mouth shut.

"What about your future?" persisted Kakashi. "Is there anything that you want to do? Or maybe _anyone?_"

The Genin all gasped in unison. Had Kakashi intended for the question to sound so perverted? Naruto didn't know. All he knew was that it looked like Hinata looked at him from the corner of her eye and her face turned a bright crimson. Naruto squinted at the Jonin suspiciously. Did this guy get his kicks by mocking Hinata like this? Or was it just an honest mistake?

"I have a dream," said Hinata suddenly. Naruto whipped his head around to look at her. She was still blushing deeply, but other than that she seemed to have recovered very quickly. "My father… thinks I am weak and worthless. I want to prove him wrong, and show him that I am worthy of being the Hyuga heiress." Hinata said it very quietly, but it was obvious that there was an underlying passion beneath her dream.

"Good," said Kakashi. "You're each unique and have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."

Naruto saluted excitedly, a huge grin on his face. "Ayup! What kind of mission are we going to have?" Finally, he was getting his first ninja mission! He was that much closer to becoming Hokage now!

"It's a task that the four of us will do together," answered Kakashi, leaving the Genin in suspense.

"What what what?!" asked Naruto, unable to take Kakashi's mind games. What would their first mission be? A cool, dangerous one? Well, he could prepare himself for being Hokage by learning how to give orders to Sakura and Hinata!

"A survival exercise," said Kakashi simply.

"Huh?" asked Naruto, confused. "Survival exercise?" A survival exercise was training, not a real mission!

"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice!" said Sakura, annoyed. "We already did this stuff back at the Academy, that's how we got here."

"This is not like your previous training," said Kakashi ominously.

"Uh, so, uh, what kind of training is it, then?" asked Naruto, trying to understand what he was talking about. To his confusion, Kakashi began to laugh.

"Hey, hold on, that's a normal question," interjected Sakura. "What's so funny?" Kakashi laughed again.

"If I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it…" he said, chuckling. The Jonin seemed to be greatly enjoying himself all of a sudden.

"Huh?" Naruto asked stupidly. Kakashi leaned forward and covered his masked face with a gloved hand.

"Of the twenty-seven graduates who just came here only nine will actually be accepted as Genin," he said, sounding annoyed at them. "The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy. In other words, this is a make-it-or-break-it, pass-fail test. The chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six percent!"

Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata looked up at him in horror.

"See?" said Kakashi. "Didn't I tell you you wouldn't like it?"

"That's crazy!" shouted Naruto angrily. "We worked hard to get here! Believe it! What was that graduation test for, anyway?!"

"Oh, that?" asked Kakashi, sounding amused. "That was just to select candidates who might become Genin," he said. "Or not."

"What?!" yelled Naruto, outraged.

"That's how it is," Kakashi said. His voice had taken on a cold edge. "I decide whether you pass or fail. Be at the designated training spot at five a.m. And bring your ninja gear."

_Well, I'm not going to be weeded out,_ thought Naruto desperately. _People are going to look up to me someday. I've got to pass this test. Believe it!_

Sakura was thinking along similar lines. _I know Sasuke and his team will pass,_ she thought. _I need to pass, too. I can't be separated from him! This is a trial of love!_

Hinata, however, was far less confident of herself than her two teammates. _There's such a high chance of failing!_ She thought miserably. _I have to pass, though. Please, let me pass…_

"That's it, you're dismissed," said Kakashi to them. "Oh, tomorrow you better skip breakfast, or else you'll puke."

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It was five o' clock on the dot as Naruto, Sakura, and Hinata walked towards each other along three separate paths, which met in the center of a wooded area. It was the appointed training area that Kakashi had told them to arrive at. The three Genin all murmured "Good morning" to each other (Naruto said it right in the middle of a yawn, making it impossible to understand what he was saying).

Naruto had spent almost the entire night beating up a punching bag painted to look like Kakashi, preparing himself for anything his strange sensei would throw at him. The effigy was lying back at his apartment, pounded by Naruto's fists so many times that it was now nothing more than a mere crumpled sack. Naruto was as prepared as he could hope to be. But he was still tired; he normally woke up much later than five o' clock.

And the three Genin waited. And waited, and waited… Naruto sat down on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest, the cold morning air biting him even through his orange jacket. He looked up at the two kunoichi with him, and felt a pang of sympathy for Sakura: she was the only one on the team that wasn't wearing a jacket. Hinata was rubbing her arms rapidly, and Sakura was left blowing breath into her hands and hopping on her feet to try and warm herself. Hinata's legs must have gotten tired, for she sat herself down next to Naruto. Sakura sat down on Naruto's other side soon after, still shivering.

Naruto's exhaustion eventually got to him. He let his head fall forward and closed his eyes. He was just resting his eyes. He would get up in a second…

"Naruto, what the hell are you doing?" someone said, waking him up with a start. He looked up and saw Kakashi standing over him, arms folded across his chest, his solitary visible eye crinkled up. It was much later now: it wasn't past morning yet, but it was certainly well past five a.m. He felt an extra weight on both of his shoulders, which he couldn't attribute to his backpack. He looked, and saw that both Hinata and Sakura were asleep, and both of them had their heads resting on one of his shoulders. He could see the top of Hinata's head to his left, and when he turned to the right a mess of nappy pink hair tickled his nose.

He jumped up and away from the two in horror. If Sakura found out that she had fallen asleep on Naruto, she would probably make another assassination attempt on him. As it was she looked pretty mad about being woken so suddenly, glowering as she started trying to straighten her hair. Hinata had climbed to her feet after being awoken, looking around in a mode of dim awareness until her eyes fell on Kakashi. Upon seeing him she became fully awake and stood up a little straighter.

"Sensei!" she said. Sakura whipped her head around as soon as she heard Hinata.

"You're late!" she yelled at him furiously, her eyes turning into dangerous-looking narrow slits.

"Where were you all this time?!" asked Naruto angrily. He was pretty mad with Kakashi, but he was also trying his best to make sure that Kakashi would be to busy calming his team down to mention to Sakura that she had fallen asleep on Naruto. Hinata, unfortunately, wasn't exactly helping, instead looking at their sensei with a blush on her cheeks.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way," explained Kakashi. He almost seemed embarrassed to be late, either that or feeling ashamed of himself for having such a cheap excuse.

"LIAR!" shouted both Sakura and Naruto at the same time.

Kakashi acted as if he hadn't heard them and pulled out an alarm clock. He set it on top of a nearby wooden post, which was one of three lined up in a row. The posts didn't appear to have any purpose; they seemed to have just been stuck in the ground for no reason.

"This clock is set to go off at noon," explained Kakashi. He pulled out two small Christmas bells dangling from a string; they jingled merrily with the slightest movement of his hand. "I have here two small bells," he said, as if the three Genin were both blind and deaf. "Your mission is to steal them from me before the timer goes off. Whichever one of you fails won't get any lunch, and will be tied to this tree stump, and have to watch as I eat your lunch in front of you."

The three Genin suddenly understood the real reason Kakashi had told them to not eat any breakfast. That might have been why he had made them get to the training field so early, too: so they couldn't change their minds and eat something anyway.

"To pass, you'll need one bell apiece," Kakashi went on.

"But… sensei, there aren't enough bells for all of us!" Hinata said, sounding panicked. Kakashi smiled at her.

"Exactly," he said pleasantly. "Which means that one of you is doomed to fail. And whoever fails is doomed to go back to the Academy. At least one of you _will_ fail; however, conversely, _all_ of you could fail, as well. I think I can guess which one of you will fail, though I'm not saying who…"

The Genin all sent each other nervous glances, trying to avoid thinking that Kakashi was referring to themselves. Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, it was just too easy. All three of them had insecurities about themselves. Now it was time to see how they would cope with it.

"To get these bells from me, you'll have to come at me as if you mean to kill me. You may use weapons, such as shuriken, if you choose."

"But… that's dangerous!" Sakura said, sounding worried. Naruto began laughing.

"You couldn't even dodge an eraser!" he said. "You're gonna get yourself killed!" This was perfect! Kakashi must have a death wish, or something…

"The class clowns are generally the weakest," responded Kakashi. "Now, let's forget the loser, and we'll start on my signal!" Naruto glared at the Jonin.

Rage gripped Naruto in its dark claws. How dare he call him a loser! Screw Kakashi's signal, he'd end it right now! Naruto swiftly pulled out a kunai, and twirled it around in his hand before grasping the handle. Hinata and Sakura both gasped. Naruto let out a roar, and charged Kakashi. It was pathetic, really. The charge may have had a lot of momentum behind it, but it was blind and inaccurate. Konohamaru probably could have dodged it if he were standing in Kakashi's place. But Naruto couldn't even think, let alone logically dissect a situation. He was sick of everyone calling him a loser; that would end right now.

Before he knew what had happened, he found himself staring at nothing but some trees off in the distance. His kunai was now aiming at the back of his own head, and a powerful hand held it in place there. Another one had grabbed the top of his head, halting his charge. What the…

"Don't be so hasty," advised Kakashi's voice from his blind spot. "I didn't say 'start' yet."

_I didn't even see him move, he was so fast!_ thought Sakura.

_Oh, Naruto… How can we possibly steal those bells away from that man? If he can move that fast all the time, we won't stand a chance! He was right when he told us we had to try and kill him or else we'd fail!_ Hinata could tell that this was not going to be an easy test.

"You did try to kill me, though," said Kakashi, as if it were the highest honor anyone could do for him. "So maybe, I'm beginning to actually like you three." For some reason, even as Kakashi gripped him tightly, he couldn't help but grin at the fact that he had won the sensei's approval. "Ready, set… Go!"

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Kakashi stood in the middle of the training field. _They've all hidden themselves well…_

"Alright, now the real match can begin!" shouted Naruto suddenly.

_What the hell?! Is this kid serious?!_ Naruto stood before Kakashi confidently, arms crossed and a confident grin on his face. "You might be thinking of the wrong kind of match…" said Kakashi out loud.

"The only wrong thing here is your hairstyle!" shouted Naruto, and began charging Kakashi. He had no idea just how much he was imitating Konohamaru's attempted overthrow of the Third Hokage.

Kakashi reached into his weapons pouch as Naruto drew nearer. Alarmed, the blond skidded to a stop.

"Let me teach you your first ninja skill," said Kakashi. "Taijutsu: the art of the trained body!"

_If taijutsu is hand-to-hand combat, then why is he reaching for a weapon?_ thought Naruto angrily. To his surprise, the Jonin yanked out an orange book. _Makeout Paradise_ was on the cover, and the international "NO" symbol was on the back. Naruto just stood there, flabbergasted.

"What's the matter?" asked Kakashi, his book flipped open. "I thought you were going to battle me."

"But… why are you reading that book?"

"To get to the end of the story, obviously. Why else would I be reading it? Go ahead and attack, I doubt it will make much difference…"

"I'm going to crush you!" Naruto shouted furiously. He charged Kakashi, and jumped and twisted in the air in an attempt to strike a blow against Kakashi's head. The Jonin, immersed in his book, swatted the fist away like a fly. Naruto was still in the air though, and he twisted again to follow the punch through with a sweeping kick. Kakashi ducked it in a swift, fluid motion, and left Naruto hanging in the air to fall on his back.

Kakashi was still reading that stupid book… "That's it!" Naruto cried, and charged Kakashi once more, cocking his fist for a solid punch. Even if Kakashi swatted the punch away, Naruto's body would still ram into him and tip him over. He had the freak now…

And for the second time in the space of ten minutes, he found himself staring at an empty space where Kakashi used to be.

"You should never let your opponent get behind you," advised Kakashi from behind him. Why was this the only way that Kakashi would give him advice?

Both Sakura and Hinata had a clear view of the battle (if one could call it that) from their hiding spots. They both saw Kakashi, book closed in between his hands, make the tiger handsign. Hinata was terrified. Would Kakashi really…?

"Naruto, get out of there!" Sakura shrieked, not caring that she had revealed herself (and also forgetting that she had tried to kill Naruto personally the day before). "He's going to destroy you!"

"Huh…?" Naruto, fist still hanging in the air from the punch he never got to throw, turned around to look at Kakashi.

"Too late!" said Kakashi. "The Hidden Leaf Village's Secret Finger Jutsu: One Thousand Years of Death!"

Naruto had never been sodomized, but he now had a taste of just how terrible the real thing could be. Kakashi rammed four of his fingers, two from each hand, up Naruto's anus through the seat of his pants and catapulted him into the shallow lake several yards away.

Sakura grew annoyed. _What was that? He didn't kill Naruto, all he did was shove his fingers up his butt!_ From her own hiding place, Hinata breathed a sigh of relief. But they both realized something in unison: Kakashi was a lot better than he looked. And he had looked pretty good to start with.

The unrelenting cold of the water distracted Naruto from the enormous amount of pain he was going through from the place no straight guy was supposed to feel it. _I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of winning…_ he thought, and reached into his weapons pouch.

Both Sakura and Hinata were amazed when they saw two shuriken zoom up and out of the water and accurately curve straight towards Kakashi. The Jonin, still reading his book, seemed blissfully unaware that two shuriken were zooming straight for his head… until he raised two fingers and snagged them both out of the air without ever once looking up. So interested was he in his book that he actually started laughing about something it said.

They continued to observe as Naruto crawled out of the lake and kneeled on the solid ground, panting.

"What's the matter?" asked Kakashi mockingly. "You know that you need a bell by lunch or you won't be eating anything!" Naruto merely coughed and glared fiercely at the Jonin. "You say you want to be Hokage one day, but you're already all tired out."

"I can fight no matter how tired I am!" yelled Naruto angrily. Both Sakura's and Hinata's stomachs chose that moment to growl.

_I've been on a diet… _thought Sakura. _I'm so starving…_

"I just wasn't ready, that's all!"

"Then learn to be ready!" said Kakashi, and began walking away, one hand holding his book and the other one shoved into his pocket.

_I will get a bell, I will! No matter what!_ thought Naruto. A large splash, and Kakashi turned around in surprise. Seven shadow clones leaped out of the lake and landed beside Naruto, who stood up. "Get ready!" shouted Naruto. "Now you face a lot more than just one of me!"

_One… five… eight separate Narutos, with an even amount of chakra displaced among them! Naruto, you really are amazing!_

_Those aren't illusions, they're solid clones… since when was Naruto actually…cool?_

_Ah, so this is the jutsu he used to defeat Mizuki, the jutsu from the Forbidden Scroll!_ "You might talk a good game, but at your level you're not strong enough to keep this up for much longer than a minute. You're still just Naruto, the same old one-trick pony!" And that's when the shadow clone Naruto had made sneak around grabbed him from behind.

"Heh heh," laughed the shadow clone. "Didn't you say so yourself, not to let the enemy get behind you? That was pretty good advice, Kakashi-sensei!" The other shadow clones latched themselves onto Kakashi's limbs, preventing him from pulling another disappearing act before the real Naruto could reach him. The real Naruto was already in the air and descending upon Kakashi, fist cocked to deliver a finishing blow.

"Here's payback for what you did to my ass!" he shouted triumphantly.

_Sasuke's still the best, but Naruto is actually pretty good…_

_You're incredible Naruto!_

Naruto's fist connected… but it wasn't Kakashi he hit. He had hit one of his own shadow clones! But how…?

"You're Kakashi, aren't you?" Naruto roared. "You used the Transformation Jutsu to change!"

The shadow clones and the real Naruto began fighting each other, looking for the real Kakashi among them. None of them seemed to notice that there weren't any extra shadow clones among them.

"You're Kakashi, aren't you!"

"No, you are!"

"Hey, you smell like an old man, it must be you!"

"Just undo the jutsu!" the real Naruto cried, and made the right handsign to do so. All of the shadow clones disappeared, he was the only one left. Was Kakashi some sort of magician?! How the hell did he keep on doing this?!

Then something glinting in the sun caught his eye. It was a bell! He must have had Kakashi running scared if he had just left a bell lying there! So the Jonin wasn't perfect, after all! He snatched it up… and quickly found himself hanging upside down, dangling from a rope tied to a tree branch. It had been a booby trap.

"What the heck?!"

Kakashi walked up to the tree where Naruto was hanging from and retrieved his bell. "You used your jutsu well… but so did I," he said. "And to fall into such an obvious trap… was just plain stupid." Naruto growled and cursed in rage, but it did no good. He could already feel the blood going to his head, and it made it feel like his entire head was being squeezed. Perhaps that blood made him smarter. Whatever the reason, Naruto got a flash of insight. Kakashi had left himself wide open: both of his hands were occupied. "Naruto, you-"

"SHUT UP!" Naruto shouted, and threw a kunai straight at the Jonin's face. Kakashi was less than a yard away; it was impossible to miss. The kunai hit Kakashi right between the eyes, penetrating the headband. He had only enough time to open his one visible eye in shock before-

Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of white smoke, and a log with a kunai imbedded in it took his place. Naruto nearly tore his hair out in rage at the deception.

"Naruto!" said a low whisper. He stopped his incoherent cursing for a second to look at who had spoken to him. It was Sakura. She was holding what looked like a box in her hand, and she looked terrified of something.

"Sakura?" Naruto asked, confused. Was this another one of Kakashi's tricks? Sakura pulled out a kunai, and Naruto instantly became terrified. It was a trick! It was Kakashi transformed, he was going to kill him! He was-

The rope was severed by the flying kunai, and Naruto fell several feet before landing on the hard ground. He groaned, and Sakura scurried over to him. She handed him the box in her hand, and he took it, still a bit confused.

"What's in the box?"

"It's not just any box, Naruto, it's a lunch!"

"What?"

"It's the lunches, Hinata found the lunches!"

"What? How?"

"I don't know, she just came up to me in the middle of your fight with Kakashi, and she gave me two of these. She said she already ate hers, and I've eaten mine by now, so it's your turn!"

Naruto gleefully ripped open the box and began to eat its contents. He was starving, and he finished it in less than a minute. "Oh, God, thank you Sakura, I don't know what I would have done without you…"

"Don't thank me, thank Hinata," said Sakura sternly.

"Yeah, you're right," said Naruto. How had Hinata found the lunches? "Where is she, anyway?"

"I think she said she would go and distract Kakashi while we ate, so we wouldn't get caught."

"Really? Wow, she's awesome!" Anyone who helped Naruto get a good lunch was awesome in his eyes. "We should go and find her," he said. After eating, he felt re-energized, and felt like he could take out Kakashi while blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his back. On second thought, that's how he'd felt since the very beginning. Sakura gave him a curt nod, and they took off in search of their teammate.

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"Kakashi is… very good," said Hinata. She was blushing, but then again, if Naruto were in her place, he probably would be blushing, too.

"How are we supposed to get her out of the ground?" he whispered to Sakura, not wanting Hinata to know that he had no idea how he was supposed to get her out of a neck-deep hole in the ground.

"I guess all we can do is dig her out," Sakura whispered back. Naruto sighed and nodded.

They did wind up digging her out, but it took a while and left Naruto's fingernails cracked and dirty. Hinata stammered out apologies and gratitude for their help, and began blushing again when Naruto grasped her hand with both of his own to lift her up.

"Well… what do we do now? I mean, we got the lunches already, so…" Naruto looked at Hinata for a clue, but she seemed determined to not meet his gaze. She did speak, though.

"I think we should get those bells from him," she said. "He might say that we didn't pass if we don't."

"I think you're right," agreed Sakura. "But what can we do to get them? I mean we saw how Naruto did everything he could, but it still didn't do any good, and I don't know how to make solid clones of myself…"

"That's true, but I think that maybe, if we, umm, work together…"

"Work together?" asked Naruto, as if the concept of teamwork was something completely alien to him. Hinata concentrated on staring at the ground, but he saw her nod her head.

"Well, okay then! Let's come up with a plan!" said Naruto excitedly.

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"Hey old man!" shouted Naruto, pointing a finger down at Kakashi. "Time for a rematch!"

"The same approach again?" grumbled Kakashi. He was sitting underneath the shade of a tree, reading _Makeout Paradise_. "You never learn, do you?"

"Come on, get up here and fight me, unless you're too much of a chicken!"

"No."

"Come on, it's almost noon already, it's not fair if you don't even give us a chance!"

_Us?_ thought Kakashi, suddenly interested. He pocketed his book and stood up. "Alright if you want to fight…" he said. He walked towards Naruto, getting closer and closer…

Suddenly, the alarm clock rang, its noise echoing all across the training field.

"Oh, tough luck, Naruto, it's noon," said Kakashi. "Looks like you all fail."

"It would look that way, wouldn't it, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Huh?"

Hinata and Sakura suddenly leaped out of two separate nearby bushes and charged Kakashi. The din of the alarm clock wouldn't stop, it seemed to go on perpetually and echo all across the field. In fact, it only seemed to be getting louder. Kakashi was somewhat surprised to see Hinata and Sakura emerge from the bushes in time, but not before he had prepared himself to perform a Substitution Jutsu…

The two kunoichi were only yards away, he would do it right… now! He jumped backwards and glided away from them. Suddenly, one of Naruto's shadow clones dashed past him, his speed seeming twice as fast as it actually was because Kakashi was going backwards at the same time. The shadow clone extended a hand and tugged on the bells, which were hanging from his belt. Kakashi was alarmed that they actually got so close to taking the bells, but they had failed. The bells were still on him, he would have been able to hear if they had been torn from him. And why wouldn't that stupid alarm stop ringing?

And then, in that moment, it hit him. The alarm… the sun was not at high noon yet, the alarm was ringing too early. The shadow clone, the bells, he would have heard, no, he _should_ have heard… if it weren't for the alarm.

He set his feet down and skidded to a halt. He felt his belt. Sure enough, the bells were gone. He looked off to his left, where the sound of the alarm was coming from. One of Naruto's shadow clones came running up, the alarm ringing in his hands. He dropped it on the ground, smiled up at Kakashi and saluted him, then disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

In front of him, the three Genin were arguing about something. He glared at them in annoyance at being tricked the way he was. Then he saw Naruto almost forcefully shove a bell into Hinata's hand. They were arguing about who would actually get the bells. None of them wanted one…

Kakashi walked up towards them and smiled down at them. They stopped bickering and looked up at him apprehensively. "Congratulations. You all pass."

"_All_ of us?"

"Yup."

"But you said-"

"I lied."

The three Genin looked at each other and suddenly burst out cheering. Naruto was kicking his feet up in the air and saying something along the lines of: "I'm going to be Hokage! I'm going to be Hokage!"

Sakura was jumping up and down, saying something about getting to be with Sasuke, while Hinata was far more reserved in her celebrating, though she nonetheless looked ecstatic about passing.

Kakashi smiled down at them with genuine happiness. He was proud of them. They were the only group of Genin to actually use teamwork, combine their powers and overcome him. He had a good feeling about this bunch of kids. They were going to make one hell of a team.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Illegal income, such as stolen or embezzled money, must be included in your gross income."

- found on the official IRS website


	3. The Battle Yet to be Won

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 3: The Battle Yet To Be Won_

Hinata would have the same dream, over and over again, night after night. Sometimes she would remember it with vivid clarity, other times she would only have a vague recollection of what she had dreamed about. But whenever she did remember, it was always the same. She dreamed of monsters.

The monsters were always the same. The first time she had the dream (a short time after she had been put in Konoha's Ninja Academy) she could not identify what the monsters were. But after several repetitions, she came to have a vague idea of what the monsters were, or at least what they were meant to represent. It was always the same two monsters, and they seemed to be elements, pure energy, given form. One was all fire. The other was all lightning.

The first time she had seen the fire monster, she thought that it was a dog, or a cat perhaps, and it had many tails. She soon realized that it was not a cat or a dog, or a wolf or a lion. It was a fox. A snarling fox, with glaring eyes and razor sharp teeth. It was a demon straight from the darkest depths of hell, with no regard for life and an insatiable appetite for destruction… and yet there was a ray of hope, a chance for redemption. The fate of many rested on its fiery shoulders, and it had to fulfill its appointed task to win that redemption.

The other monster was a snake. The snake was very different from the fox, in more ways than one. The fox was immortal, its power unfathomable, its motives unclear. The snake of lightning, however, was not immortal. It was created on earth, and as such, it had an incredible lust for power. The fox knew not the meaning of power, the same way a human did not truly know the meaning of humanity. A human _was_ alive, and the fox _was_ power. It did not seek any more power the same way a mortal did not seek more humanity. That was the way it had always been, and surely the way it would always be.

The snake, Hinata somehow knew, had once been beautiful and pure. It was now cold and corrupt, hideous. And the snake knew this, but it did not care. It had had a chance at redemption, a chance to be forgiven, but it had forsaken that chance without a second thought. Before transforming into such a powerful being, the snake had been reduced to nothing, its pride shattered. The snake knew what it was like to experience defeat, and it refused to go through the torment again. Driven by a foul purpose, the snake wanted total control over everything, to be the undisputed ruler over all with an endless reign. It was a goal that needed power to be achieved… And so the snake sought power. All it wanted was power, pure power, at any cost. Hinata knew, and the snake knew, that this power could only be obtained if it killed the fox.

The fox had had many chances to stop the snake before, but it had never taken the opportunity. It had ignored all the signs that the snake was growing into a vicious and formidable rival. Under its restraints, the fox was unwilling to needlessly unleash its full strength to crush an opponent that it deemed completely unworthy. Ignoring the terrible atrocities that the snake committed, and the rampage of destruction that it marched on−one to rival the fox's−the demon just spectated as the snake's power grew and grew. Before the fox knew what was happening, the snake had increased itself to a level high enough to pose a serious threat. In a stunning move, the snake attacked and assaulted the dormant fox, as quickly and furiously as the very lightning it was composed of.

And so they met, and they fought. The fox wanted to win, not for itself, even though it had once been selfish, but for the sake of the snake. Only through defeat could the lightning monster be saved. The snake was arrogant. It _knew_ that it would win.

However, as noble a reason to want victory as it was, wanting to save the snake was not the least of the fox's worries. If the demon lost, it would be its doom. This was a fight that demanded every ounce of the fox's strength. If it did not commit itself fully to the battle, it would be destroyed.

The two monsters met over a dark abyss, and there they did battle. The fox did not want to hurt the snake, for it sympathized with the poor creature. Who wouldn't? It was a victim of itself, yet it didn't even realize it. In this state of ignorance the snake could only further destroy its humanity, and it would continue to do so until it reached a state of incorrigibility. And yet, as much as the fox may have felt emotion for its opponent, it knew that allowing the snake to continue its rampage would be an unforgivable mistake. It had ignored the growing problem for long enough. Far too many people had already become victims of the envious snake's hatred and ambition. By ending it all now, the fox could atone for its past sins: the sin of allowing the evil to continue and spread. By ignoring the snake's obviously malevolent goals, the fox might as well have been condoning them.

When the two finally did battle, in a battle of such an epic scale that the likes of which hadn't been seen since Lucifer's Rebellion, the snake didn't exploit it. It didn't know that there was anything to be exploited; it had merely taken the fox, despite it being made of pure power, to be weak. But the fox was not weak, it was strong. There was a difference between power and strength, which was something that the snake could not comprehend. The snake, despite all its power, was clearly the weaker of the two. However, power was strength in itself, and it had plenty of power at its disposal.

The battle raged for Hinata knew not how long; her dream was timeless. It grew progressively fiercer, more and more destructive. Both the fox and the snake grew even stronger throughout the course of their battle, discovering new powers and unleashing them. At the beginning the snake appeared to be winning, and so it arrogantly predicted its victory, boasting to the fox that the battle need not progress further, for the outcome was already decided. But the fox had yet to reveal its true power. It had not yet begun to fight.

The battle raged on and on, until the snake realized that it would lose unless it unleashed its last resort, its ace in the hole. By using this last weapon, which would yield unprecedented death and destruction, the snake would destroy the last bit of humanity left in it. If it knew, it did not care. It had never cared. And so the fox communicated with the snake, in some strange way so that Hinata understood it perfectly.

_If I have to destroy you to save you, I will do it,_ said the fox. For if it did not destroy the threat of the snake, infinitely more people would become victims of its jealous rage. The fox had to win at all costs.

The snake laughed and used the weapon without hesitation. Its power grew immensely, but the last of its true strength, its humanity, shriveled up and died forever. The fox saw this weapon, the incredible and lethal display of pure power, and knew that the fight needed to end.

And so in a last charge the two monsters met each other. This was it, the final blow would be struck here. The fox and the snake were equals now; in this charge power and strength were worth nothing. The fox had a chance to destroy the snake. It saw the opening, it saw the weakness, it saw the way to destroy, and as a direct result save, the poor snake. It saw the opening, but it found that, deep in its heart, it could not do it. The snake saw the opportunity to kill the fox. It reared its hideous head back in preparation for its final lunge, the blow that would decide the battle. And in that preparation, it gave the fox another opening, a second chance. Could the fox do it? Would it win its redemption? The window of opportunity was closing quickly, the fox needed to decide before it was too late−

"Naruto!" Hinata screamed. She sat up in her bed, panting, drenched in a cold sweat. Tears were streaming down her face, though she didn't remember crying. A servant bustled into her room, concern etched all over her face.

"Is everything all right, Lady Hinata?" she asked.

"Yes, yes, I just had a nightmare, is all…" Hinata normally would have blushed in a situation like this, but tonight she didn't.

"Well, I think all of your screaming just now might well have woken up half the clan," said the servant. "It might have had something to do with the little celebration we had for your becoming a Genin," she suggested. "Did you drink any sake?"

"No," said Hinata quietly. She wasn't even looking at the woman in her room, and was instead concentrating on her hands, which were shaking.

"Oh, well, then I'm sure that it's just the excitement from the party that has you all worked up. Please rest easy, My Lady," she said and left her room, closing the door softly behind her. Hinata, however, couldn't make herself fall back to sleep, and was up for the remainder of the night.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"You will find it a distinct help… if you know and look as if you know what you are doing."

- IRS training manual for tax auditors


	4. The Inverse Ninja Squad

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 4: The Inverse Ninja Squad_

"So," said Kakashi to Iruka quietly over the table in the missions room. "Do you have any, you know, _good_ missions for my team to do?" Iruka smirked at the Jonin.

"Oh, you mean the famous Inverse Ninja Squad?"

Kakashi sighed. If he had been given a penny for each time he had heard his team called the "Inverse Ninja Squad" for comprising of two girls and a boy instead of the other way around, he would have been able to buy a pirate ship and sail the seas to look for treasure. Hadn't Iruka been the one to organize the teams in the first place? What was he doing teasing Kakashi about it?

"Yes, for the Inverse Ninja Squad," answered Kakashi, doing his best to keep his voice neutral. The missions room was mostly empty at the moment; their last client, the plump and extravagantly-dressed Lady Shijimi, was walking out the door with her scrawny cat Tiger. Kakashi didn't particularly mind these tasks, even if they were a dramatic departure from the combat missions he had done since a child. Tracking down a missing pet cat in the middle of a forest was really nothing more than a chore, but it gave Kakashi a chance to relax and read a book while the Genin did all the work. Ironically, the mission might have ended a bit quicker than he would have liked thanks to Hinata succeeding in quickly locating the feline. As Naruto angrily complained about the mission being a waste of time and Sakura grumbled about scratching her arms in the thick foliage, their teammate had just quietly got to work.

These sorts of missions taught the Genin a sense of duty, and that they wouldn't always (possibly ever) get assigned the sort of mission they wanted. If the last few weeks had been any indication, the Hyuga had a jump on her teammates where that was concerned.

"Let's just see what kind of mission would be _good_ for the Inverse Ninja Squad," said Iruka, a grin on his face as he checked his clipboard. "Well, here we have some flower arranging chores, maybe you'll be able to find an arrangement of flowers that are…opposite? Or _here's_ a good one…" Iruka went on, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Iruka," said a stern voice, "That will be quite enough." It was Sarutobi, the Third Hokage and most respected man in the village. He had a voice that sounded warm and friendly most of the time; however, it could sound icy-cold if he wished to. Right now, it was commanding and unyielding. "Kakashi, your team's missions are already set," he said, picking up a sheet of paper. "Your first mission is dog walking, then you have some errands to run over at a neighboring village, then you'll have some babysitting…"

Kakashi sighed and was grateful that he had left Team 7 out on the last mission they had received so far, which was pulling up weeds. If Naruto had been in here and heard that they were getting more D rank missions, he would have thrown a fit. Kakashi cringed at the thought. He couldn't really say that he had experienced a similar life, having passed the Chunin Exams at age six. However, he could still sympathize with the boy and his teammates.

"There isn't, by any chance, a C mission available, is there?" asked Kakashi, interrupting Sarutobi as he read off the list of missions. He hoped that there was something that would turn up. Sarutobi looked confused.

"You want a C rank mission for yourself while your Genin do their missions?" he asked. If that had really been the case, it certainly would have been a strange request indeed. What would a Jonin want a C rank mission for?

"No," answered Kakashi. "I mean, are there any C rank missions that Team 7 could be given? Surely all those other mundane chores could wait until we got back, or perhaps you can make one of the two other Genin teams do it."

Sarutobi sighed. "Kakashi, we _do_ have several C rank missions that need to be tended to, but I highly doubt that your team is of high enough skill to be entrusted with one. We can't favor any one Genin team, especially with something like this."

"If I may, Lord Hokage," interjected Iruka, now serious, "but didn't you send Team 8, Kurenai's team, on a C rank mission?"

"Well, yes, but I trust that her team is of high enough skill to accomplish their mission successfully," said the Third. "I am still not sure what you were thinking when you formed two completely reversed teams, Iruka," he went on. He talked as if this were something that had been bothering him for a while, and he now had the opportunity to scold Iruka about it. "Having two males and a kunoichi in a Genin team has proven time and again to lead to success. Having so much testosterone in Team 8 may have been a bit of a mistake on your part."

"Yes, well, I had figured that Kurenai would balance that out when I formed the teams," Iruka lied. He would never tell the Third that the only reason he had switched the teams at all was because he had been too soft on Naruto when he had objected to being put in the same team as Sasuke. In hindsight (which was 20/20, as they said), he probably should have actually paid attention to who he was putting into what team. Had he replaced Sasuke with Shino instead of Hinata, he would have served as a nice counterweight to Naruto's rowdiness. Aburames rarely allowed any nonsense to get in the way of a mission. Team 8 would have wound up being Hinata, Kiba, and Sasuke, and all of them were from clans. Iruka cursed himself for not looking past the first person on the list and doing such an insensible thing as making the two teams off balance. Now the carefully-planned order was irreparably ruined, and there was nothing that he could do about it.

The Third took his pipe out of his mouth and blew out a cloud of smoke. He appeared amused at Iruka's explanation. "Really? You think that Kurenai would be able to handle three boys if they were to become insubordinate?" he asked, grinning.

"Kiba is the wild-child in Team 8," countered Iruka. "Both Shino and Sasuke know how to follow orders. They would be able to keep him in his place if he stepped out of line."

"And if Shino or Sasuke suddenly had a new outlook on life?"

"Why are you giving me these scenarios?" asked Iruka, having no counter argument and growing red in the face. "You talk as if there is the constant threat of our shinobi deserting us. If that were the case, then I doubt that the presence of a kunoichi, or lack thereof, would make much of a difference!"

"I just wanted to prove my point Iruka," said Sarutobi. He sighed and stuck his pipe back into his mouth, clamping down on it with his teeth. "Next time, try to keep the teams a bit more balanced."

Iruka didn't point out the fact that, even though two of the teams were not of the basic two-male-one-female structure, they were two of the only three teams to pass their Jonin's test.

"Well, threats of betrayal from within aside, do you have any C rank missions Team 7 could take on or not?" asked Kakashi, sounding annoyed. Iruka looked up at him. Somehow, he had completely forgotten that the Jonin was in the room.

Iruka turned to look at Sarutobi. "What do you say, Lord Hokage? Do you want to give them a bit of a challenge?" The Third sighed and adjusted his headdress.

"What mission had we sent Team 8 on? Do you remember?" asked Sarutobi resignedly. Iruka looked at his clipboard.

"They had to track down a low-risk escaped convict. Both Kiba and Shino are adept at tracking, which gave their team a bit of an advantage. I think that's why we chose them in the first place, wasn't it?" Sarutobi thought briefly, then nodded. That had been why Team 8 was chosen. Team 7, on the other hand, specialized in… What did they specialize in? The team was comprised of a loudmouthed boy with his head in the clouds, and two kunoichi without any particular talent.

"I do suppose that the D missions can wait," said Sarutobi. He looked at the list of uncompleted C rank missions in front of him. He needed to find something that would appease to Naruto's senses, since he seemed to be the biggest complainer on the team. Something that seemed important, but had no real risk…

"Here," said the Third, finding a mission that fulfilled all of the prerequisites he had set for Team 7 (meaning that Naruto wouldn't fly into a tantrum when he heard his next mission). "An escort mission to the Land of Waves. You have to protect an architect as he journeys back to his village to complete the construction of a bridge. It says that you'll have to stay until the construction of the bridge is complete, which probably means that he'll want you to watch out for vandals during construction." The mission was perfect: who on earth was trying to kill an architect? The man, or whoever was paying for the mission, was probably (almost certainly) wasting their money. By all appearances, it was the easiest mission carrying the rank of C.

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," said Kakashi, bowing his head. "I'm sure that Team 7 will love to hear that the Hokage thinks that they're worthy of tougher missions now."

"Indeed. However, don't expect a favor like this to happen again any time soon, especially if I find out that your team's behavior on the mission turns out to be most unprofessional."

"I'll have to tell Naruto to keep his head when he eventually finds out that this mission doesn't have any serious risk or glamour," said Kakashi thoughtfully. "But then again, hopefully Hinata and Sakura will be able to convince him to keep his shirt on. They don't seem to care much one way or the other about the rank of their missions."

"Well, I suppose that if you fear Naruto going crazy with boredom while on the mission, you could just tell him that the bridge is under threat of attack from missing-nin, or some other nonsense," Sarutobi joked. "I'm sure that when he comes back, he'll claim to have scared them all away by his mere presence!"

Kakashi laughed as well, something of a rare occurrence. Whenever he laughed, it was usually at his Genin team's misfortune. "Thank you for the advice, but I'd rather tell my team the truth rather than some make-believe story. If Naruto finds out I was just waving a carrot in front of him the entire time, his reaction will be a lot worse than it would have been normally. Thank you for this favor, Lord Hokage. I'm sure that Team 7 will not let you down." He bowed his head again, and left the missions room, probably off to tell his team the news.

"Iruka," said the Third, "find me a good C rank mission for Asuma's team. I wouldn't want to make them miss out on the fun."

"Asuma's team?" asked Iruka. "His team is weaker than the other two, even though they have two boys and a girl!"

"I know," said Sarutobi, sighing. He adjusted the brim of his headdress again, a habit he had gotten into even though it rarely required to be moved. "But still, it would be unfair to even give the other teams the pretense that they're skilled enough to take on dangerous missions, and leave out Team 10. They need a self-esteem boost as much as anyone else."

"Sure thing, Lord Hokage," said Iruka, and began looking for a C mission that would be easy enough for Team 10, knowing that it would not be an simple task. _If only we could have sent them on this bridge mission and Team 7 on another one_, he thought glumly.

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Hinata was initially excited when she learned about Team 7's mission to the Land of Waves. It was their very first C rank mission, and a bit of a milestone. Sakura hadn't seemed very excited about it, but Naruto looked ready to run around in circles. They had yet to meet their client, whom Kakashi had said was a man named Tazuna. Hinata hadn't exactly been expecting another party for getting a C mission when she got home, but her father's negative reaction shocked her.

Hiashi had been inexplicably infuriated when he had learned that her Jonin sensei would be Kakashi Hatake; as soon as he learned that Naruto was in the same team, he exploded with rage. Hinata thought that it was odd that he would have such strong opinions about the two of them, though she wasn't surprised that it seemed more like he had some sort of grudge against the two of them rather than concern for her well-being.

Upon finding out about her mission to the Land of Waves, he had told her to not get in everyone's way all the time, the way she did at home. When Hinata had decided to ask him why he hated Naruto and Kakashi so much, all he told her was that the boy had done something terrible a long time ago and she wouldn't be able to remember, and that the Jonin was a disrespectful, incompetent, and pretentious shinobi. His comment about Naruto confused her: if she and Naruto were the same age, how could he be blamed for doing something as a baby? Whatever it had been, he really couldn't have known better, could he?

When Hinata had once described her dream to her father, his reaction had been even worse. He had demanded to know exactly how many tails the "fire fox" had possessed, and what it had been doing in the dream. When she described the snake to him, he expressed no interest in it. He only cared about the fox, and what was her business dreaming about it. She told him that the fox probably had around ten tails, maybe nine or eleven. Hiashi had exploded at this, grabbing her by the shoulders and demanding to know where she had heard about this fox before. To him, she needed to have heard about the fox before she could dream about it; he didn't believe her when she told him that the fox was a being of her own creation.

Hiashi eventually gave up trying to find out where she had learned about the fox or who had told her, but it was obvious that he still didn't believe her. Team 7 was to leave on their mission the next day, and Hinata was in her room, packing her things, when her little sister entered and closed the door behind her.

"What did you say to Father to get him so upset?" asked Hanabi, looking up at Hinata with her large, pale eyes. The two sisters rarely talked anymore; Hiashi seemed to discourage it, as if the virus of incompetence would spread to the younger of his two daughters.

"I don't know," said Hinata sadly, a response that she was able to honestly use for many questions she was asked. "All I did was tell him about a dream I had, and he…didn't like it."

"What did you dream about?"

"It was about a fox and a snake… They were fighting. The fox had a lot of tails. I think that that's what made him the most upset, when I told him that the fox had nine or ten tails."

"The Kyubi?"

"The what?"

"Kyubi. Nine tails. You dream about the Kyubi?"

"What is the Kyubi, exactly? How do you know about it?"

"I overheard a couple of adults talking about it once. They were talking about it like they both already knew what it was, but I figured out that it was a fox with nine tails after listening for a little bit. It sounded like it was very powerful."

Hinata's brow furrowed. "Very powerful" was an accurate description of the fox in her dream. What was this Kyubi? Was the Kyubi in her dream the same one that the villagers were talking about? "Were they talking about the Kyubi as if it were real, or as if it were imaginary?" she asked.

"They sounded like they thought that it was a real thing. Or at least that it had been a real thing once. They said something about the 'Uzumaki boy,' too, and they kept on calling him Kyubi. That's what got me really confused."

Hinata's mind was reeling, trying to digest all of this new information that had previously been denied to her. Naruto the Kyubi? None of this made any sense…

"So that's the only reason that Father was upset? Because of your dream?"

"Pretty much, yeah," said Hinata absently. Her father's anger… A powerful demon that no longer existed… Naruto? Did Hanabi say good night and leave? Did Hinata respond? Or was that all a figment of her imagination? She wasn't sure, but when she looked up, Hanabi had exited her room, the door closed behind her.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"I hear that you're using your paper, not for writing, but for _rolling doobies!_ Now, you're going to be doing a lot of doobie rolling when you're living in a van _down by the river!_"

- Chris Farley (Matt Foley SNL Skit)


	5. First Battle

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 5: First Battle_

After leaving Konoha on their first ever C rank mission, things deteriorated quickly for Team 7. And it had started off bad enough. Their client, Tazuna, turned out to be a grouchy old man with glasses, a bottle of sake, and a weird hat that appeared to be made out of wood. Kakashi could tell that the man seemed to have it in for Naruto, even though they had never even met before. Tazuna called the boy a midget the first time he laid eyes on him, even though Hinata was almost half a foot shorter than he was. An enraged Naruto attempted to assault the man, only being held back by Kakashi.

As they left the Hidden Leaf Village, Naruto openly expressed his excitement over leaving the village for the first time, only to have Tazuna scoff and call him a fool. Kakashi couldn't help but wonder how the old man had reacted when _he_ had left his home village for the first time in his life. Naruto lost it again and screamed insults and threats at Tazuna, proclaiming that he would one day be Hokage, and when that day came, the old geezer would have to watch his back. Like almost everyone else in the Leaf Village, he told Naruto that he was just a stupid brat, and could never become Hokage. Naruto tried to attack the man again, and again, Kakashi was the only one to grab hold of him and stop him.

As they marched along, things finally quieted down and the Jonin allowed himself to relax a little. It would be a while before they made it to Wave Country, and he didn't want to be mentally exhausted by the time they got there.

And that's when he noticed the puddle.

It hadn't rained in Konoha, or anywhere near, in days. And the sun was out, meaning that a puddle of that size had absolutely no right to exist. But Kakashi didn't freak out just yet. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't meant for them. Maybe it was a couple of ninjas, back home from a recent mission, relaxing and playing a game of hide and seek with each other. Maybe, it wouldn't be exactly what he thought it was.

His fears were confirmed when two ninjas, armored and armed with strange metal claws, rose up from the puddle like two demonic spirits. They were skilled enough to conceal themselves in a puddle that would have otherwise gone undetected, and Kakashi gave them credit for that. However, they weren't skilled enough to conceal that puddle behind a tree or under a bush, which would have effectively rendered them invisible (perhaps not to Hinata's Byakugan, which she didn't have activated all the time, and had yet to even tell her teammates of her bloodline limit).

Well, the two ninjas had screwed up. Now, Kakashi had to risk his Genin and find out if his _worst_ fears were confirmed, and their target turned out to be old man Tazuna. He was.

The two ninjas started off in a commendable fashion: they went after the clearly most powerful target first, and cut Kakashi's substitution to pieces with their razor-spiked chains. If he had really been down there to take that hit, it would have been an unpleasant experience indeed.

They went straight for Naruto next… who remained there like a deer trapped in the headlights. In battle, time seemed to slow down to an almost leisurely pace. For the experienced, they utilized that time to its maximum effectiveness, noticing things that rookies and newbies didn't. That was why veterans lived on to fight another day while the fresh troops became food for vultures and scavengers.

To the inexperienced, that slowed-down time turned into the romantic notion of having their life flash before their eyes just before they died. Whether Naruto did have a burst of nostalgia right before the attack came, Kakashi never, and would never, know. In his allotted time, he pulled out two kunais, one in each hand, and prepared to throw them. Before he could intervene, however, a female voice screeched out:

"Naruto, _move!_"

Was it Sakura's voice, or Hinata's? Kakashi couldn't tell. Under normal circumstances, he would have automatically assumed that it was Hinata looking out for Naruto. However, the voice didn't sound as high as the Hyuga's…

Naruto blinked stupidly, then seemed to come back to his senses. The two ninjas were carrying the spiked chain between them, prepared to cut Naruto in half with a single attack. In the remaining second before they reached him, he pitched and rolled out of the way, the enemy ninjas shooting past him. They took missing their secondary target in stride, and continued in their blitz towards the vulnerable Tazuna. Kakashi cursed under his breath. The old man really was the target.

Naruto, however, hadn't taken to being attacked very well. Something seemed to have snapped within him. He jumped back onto his feet like a prizefighter, kunais and shurikens in his hands even before he was completely up. He hurled them with accuracy, and both of the ninjas received at least two of the weapons in the back, with some of the others bouncing off their armor or missing completely. The first enemy, the one with the metal claw on his right hand, went down with a crash. Apparently, Naruto had gotten lucky and hit something vital. The two enemies were still connected with the chain: the second one shot past his downed comrade and was forcefully yanked backwards as a result of it.

The three Genin had all been moving even before the first ninja had gone down. Hinata and Sakura had stood in front of Tazuna in a defensive formation (which was lacking a vital third ninja to protect the right flank, but that was irrelevant because the only direction that the remaining enemy was likely to move was straight towards the front). Naruto, another kunai in his hand, yelled and charged the left-handed ninja to finish him off. The ninja grabbed the chain linking him to his friend and forcefully broke it, his half snapping backwards like a whip.

As Naruto reached him, he swung the metal claw in a sweeping motion that wasn't quite a punch: with the metal weapon on his hand, there was no need to cock his fist. Naruto was struck in the face and fell down with a cry. The enemy ninja could have finished him off, but instead he grabbed his half of the spiked chain and shot off towards Tazuna once more. Sakura was directly in his path, kunai in hand and a look of determination in her face. He slashed the chain at her; it cracked like a whip, and hit her directly in the stomach. It shredded her shirt and tore into her skin; just how deep it cut Kakashi couldn't tell. Her face displayed shock and pain at the unexpected attack; she had clearly been bracing herself to try and stop a direct charge. She coughed out blood, groaned, and collapsed. There was no one standing in front of the architect any longer.

Kakashi took off from his hiding place, and flashed towards the enemy ninja, cursing himself for not intervening sooner… Naruto climbed to his feet for the second time, the entire left side of his face a bloody mess… Tazuna looked frozen in place just like Naruto had been, quite unsure what to do, now that it seemed that he only had one defender left.

Kakashi suddenly saw Hinata jump into action, something that he had for some reason not been expecting. She had leaped into the air in a calculated jump: her trajectory was lined up to bring her into a collision course with the enemy ninja and stop him. The veins around her eyes were bulging, and her normally pupil-less eyes now had a visible center. She was using her Byakugan.

Her hand was reared back as if to throw a punch, but she hadn't turned it into a fist. Instead, it looked like she was planning on slapping her opponent. The enemy ninja hurtled forward, apparently completely oblivious to Hinata's presence and planned attack. He drew closer and closer to Tazuna, whose wrinkled face was taut with fear.

Hinata fell from the sky and onto the enemy, just as Kakashi reached them. With extreme precision, she brought her open hand down on the enemy and struck him in the chest, a flash of blue chakra momentarily visible as she did so. Through his facemask, the ninja made a sort of hacking noise, and flew backward, landing on his back. He groaned and twitched, then stopped moving. Hinata, looking terrified at what she had done, collapsed into a sitting position at Tazuna's feet, looking at the hand she had used to hit her opponent. Her Byakugan deactivated, and her pupils disappeared once more, the veins around her eyes receding. Kakashi realized that this must have been her first real enemy that she had felled in a life-or-death battle.

Now, the Jonin had to figure out what to do next. He glanced at Naruto, who was standing over the ninja he had hit and defeated with his weapons. He looked fine. Neither of the enemies were moving any longer. Whether they were dead or just in shock, Kakashi would find out soon enough. Hinata was obviously uninjured, and she looked up at Kakashi in surprise and bewilderment. He had almost forgotten that he was supposed to be dead, the first one attacked by the enemy ninjas. Sakura, then.

"You," he barked at Tazuna. "Check the boy. Make sure he's fine." He couldn't believe what a fine mess Tazuna had gotten them in. He had obviously lied about just how risky this mission would be, and was just a _little_ annoyed with him about it. The old man nodded, and walked towards Naruto on wobbly legs. Kakashi knelt down beside Sakura, and tore off what was left of her lower shirt to reveal her wound. He groaned when he saw it: it looked deep and nasty, thanks to the vicious spikes on the chain. He wasn't a medic-nin, and only had a basic understanding of human anatomy and healing.

Sakura was unconscious, her breathing coming out in ragged gasps as her chest rose and fell. A little bit of blood trickled from her lips. Kakashi instinctively pressed one of his gloved hands down on her wound, trying to put pressure on it and help stop the bleeding. Now, he had to find out if the chain was poisoned. He remembered that the lower half of Sakura's shirt lay at his feet, and that Hinata currently wasn't doing anything useful.

"Hinata," he said, handing her the bit of pink cloth. She took it reluctantly, still looking a bit shaken. "Press this down on Sakura's stomach to help stop the bleeding. I'll be right back." The girl nodded and scrambled over to her fellow kunoichi, doing just as Kakashi asked.

The Jonin walked over to the ninja that Hinata had struck and knelt down beside him. His facemask bore the symbol of the Hidden Mist Village. Kakashi decided to check for a pulse and reached for his naked hand. It was there, but weak. Hinata had hit him in the heart. He next grabbed the chain and felt it between his fingers, careful to not let any of the spikes break the naked skin on his fingers. Nothing dripped off the chain as he checked it and held it upside down. It wasn't poisoned. Kakashi breathed out a sigh of relief. Now he had to check the metal claw, for Naruto had been smacked with one in the face. He held it up, and it hung limply from his hand. As he looked at it, something dripped off one of the fingers and landed on the dirt path below, the dry ground absorbing it in seconds. It wasn't water. Dammit!

Kakashi scrambled up and ran to Naruto, who had Tazuna standing next to him. He reached for one of the pockets of his vest, and slid a vial out. He pushed past the old man and reached the Genin, who was holding onto his face and wincing.

"Naruto, drink this," he commanded. Naruto looked up at him in surprise.

"Kakashi-sensei, I thought you were−"

"I'm fine, just drink this!"

Naruto took the vial and looked at it curiously, then took off the cap and drank the liquid inside of it. He screwed his face up as he swallowed it; the antidote tasted bitter.

"Here, let me look at your face," said Kakashi. He cupped the boy's chin and turned his face. Naruto winced in pain. There was a jagged cut on his face, starting from just below his ear and reaching to his chin. Kakashi blinked in shock. The cut was healing right in front of him, the broken skin rapidly sealing. So the Kyubi's powers extended to Naruto's healing process, as well. Kakashi wouldn't have been surprised if he found out that that meant Naruto was immune to the claw's poison, too.

"Uhh, is everything alright, sensei?"

"Yes," said Kakashi, snapping back to the situation. "Your cut should heal fine. You'll recover. Sakura, on the other hand… I'm not so sure."

"They got Sakura?!" asked Naruto, alarmed. "Dammit!" he cursed, and ran over to her and Hinata, who was still pressing the cloth to the kunoichi's stomach. He knelt down next to her. He looked like he was in shock at what had happened to her, not even looking at Hinata. Kakashi turned to Tazuna, who still looked shaken from the past battle.

"Tazuna," he said icily. "A word, if you please." It was not a request, and both of them knew it.

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I just checked the archives, and found out that there are _forty pages_ of HinataxSasuke stories. Even worse, one of them has over 1,500 reviews! For such a hopeless pairing, it sure has a fanatical fanbase! That's blasphemy! That's madness!

**Quote of the Day:**

"Badgers? Badgers?! We don't need no stinking badgers!"

-UHF (Raul's Wild Kingdom Scene)


	6. The Sanguine Sanguinary Ninja

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 6: The Sanguine Sanguinary Ninja_

During the next several hours following the battle, Sakura drifted in and out of consciousness. Her stomach hurt like hell whenever she was awake, and it got even worse when she tried to move. At one point, she had awoken upon a small boat as it drifted along down a tunnel. Slightly delirious, she was facing the rear of the boat, and saw the engine, which was turned off, and a man with a wooden hat much like Tazuna's guiding the vessel with an oar. In her state, she was reminded of a Far Western myth she had once heard about, involving a ferryman who transported departed souls across a river to the afterlife—for a fee, of course. She found it curious that she would remember something like that in a situation like this.

She felt warm; someone was holding her, trying to keep her warm as they traveled down the cold tunnel. She looked down at her stomach, and saw with dismay that her shirt was torn. It looked like a midriff or something, with her shirt ending in a jagged tear a few inches above her belly button. Why did she take her favorite shirt on her first mission? Now it was messed up, and she'd have to get a new one… The person holding her was very gentle, they didn't try to move her or do anything that would have caused her discomfort. And they were so warm, too. She nestled in closer to them, and fell back asleep.

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"We've been lucky so far," said the ferryman, a villager who apparently was in cahoots with Tazuna. "I'm going to take us through an inland waterway under the cover of the mangroves, so we won't be seen." He seemed confident that it would actually make any sort of difference whether they were spotted or not. But Kakashi knew better. Whoever wanted Tazuna dead would know by now that their first attempt had been a failure, and would now have an even easier time of attacking him now that he was a stationary target.

Yes, their first attempt had been a failure, but at what cost to Team 7? Here he had one seriously wounded kunoichi, one injured boy who was of the impression that her current state was all his fault and wasn't thinking clearly because of it, and a second kunoichi who seemed to be moping around for an unclear reason. Tazuna had stopped being such a dickhead to Naruto, at least for the time being, probably after witnessing how all of the Genin had put their lives on the line to save him.

Kakashi had summoned Pakkun, his talking nin-dog, and told him to send a message back to Konoha that he had apprehended two hostile enemy agents, having bound them with some rope and leaving them under a marked tree. Despite having a seriously hurt Sakura, Kakashi had decided to press on with the mission, deciding that he could kill two birds with one stone and have Sakura healed in Wave Country. It was risky, especially considering that their next adversary was likely to be of higher skill than the two Chunin from earlier. He could only hope that he was of higher caliber than any assassins that would be sent after them. And considering how deep Gato's pockets were, that seemed an ever-shrinking possibility in Kakashi's eyes.

After hearing Tazuna's story about how the entire Land of Waves was being held hostage by the billionaire and his gang of thugs, Kakashi realized that it was a situation way out of his league. This looked like something that required a crack team of ANBU to assassinate Gato and liberate the island nation, not a team of Genin to guard the construction of Tazuna's bridge, as the architect claimed.

Team 7 had been more than halfway there when they had been attacked by the Mist ninjas, and turning back to Konoha would have been a waste of time that Sakura might have desperately needed. And so Kakashi decided to go onward to the Land of Waves and then summon one of his nin-dogs to send for reinforcements. Pakkun had already left for Konoha by the time Kakashi had come up with his plan, and none of his other dogs could talk. He could have written a message on a scroll and ordered one of his hounds to deliver it to Sarutobi, but that carried the risk of the message getting lost or intercepted on the way. It would be foolish to rely on a sent message like that.

Kakashi remembered how back in Konoha Sarutobi had cracked a joke about missing-nin attacking the bridge builder, and the gaiety in his voice as he said it. _Damned old fool_, Kakashi thought bitterly. _He jinxed us._

He looked over at his Genin. Sakura was unconscious, lying in Naruto's arms. He was constantly looking at her in worry, and touched her forehead every couple of minutes, seemingly afraid that she would catch a fever. She looked peaceful enough, but it was a cold day. Whenever she shivered, even slightly, Naruto would hug her even closer to him and start rubbing her arms in an attempt to warm her. And when she stopped shivering, Naruto would loosen his grip slightly and feel her forehead. The cycle would then start all over again.

Hinata sat on her side of the boat, and looked on at the two sadly. Did she feel guilty about Sakura's injuries like Naruto? Or was there some other reason that she stared at Naruto with a longing in her eyes?

The boat stopped at a rickety wooden harbor, where Team 7 and Tazuna climbed off. Kakashi gently picked up Sakura from Naruto's arms and carried her. She looked strange with only half of the front of her shirt intact. Both sides had originally stretched down to below her knees, but now it looked like she was wearing a cape or something. She'd no doubt be furious when she came to and realized how ridiculous she looked.

"This is as far as I go," said the ferryman in a low voice. "Take care of yourselves." He started up the motor of his boat again, and sped back the way they had come.

_There's bound to be another attack_, thought Kakashi. _And, in the worst case scenario, it'll be a Jonin at roughly my skill level._ Sakura moaned and stirred in his arms, then quieted down once more. _Could this get any worse?_

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Naruto's face ached slightly, but he ignored the pain. If anything, he deserved it. He had frozen up in battle when his friends had needed him most, and Sakura was the one to suffer for his screw-up. He looked backwards at Kakashi, who was carrying the pink-haired kunoichi in his arms. Naruto would have gladly volunteered to carry her again, but his arms were sore from supporting her on the boat ride. If anything happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself. This was something that went far beyond his crush for Sakura. In the back of his mind, even he knew that a crush was superficial and probably wouldn't last forever. Someone dying, though, did last forever.

He noticed that Hinata had practically fallen in step with him, but she made no sign of wanting to start a conversation, so he ignored her. He could barely stand looking at her, let alone talking to her. Looking at her would remind him of how close he had come to letting her get harmed, and he couldn't stand it. Hinata probably held him in contempt for failing them as badly as he had. If only he'd been just a little bit quicker…

A white rabbit suddenly crossed their paths. It stood up on its hind legs, nose twitching, then scampered off. Naruto watched it out of the corner of his eye, but without much interest. It was just a rabbit, after all. Nothing to get excited about…

"Everyone take cover!" yelled Kakashi suddenly. What the hell? Was he out of his mind? What did he think he was doing-

Hinata suddenly pushed him to the ground, and he toppled over with a cry. The Hyuga landed on top of him, but instead of trying to scamper off of him, she seemed to grab hold of him even tighter. He noticed that their cheeks were touching: it was his injured one. When Hinata got back up, she was going to have his blood all over her face. To his shock, something huge and metallic suddenly flew in the air above him and Hinata, imbedding itself with a smack into a nearby tree. Kakashi hadn't been out of his mind, after all. What could have warned him, though? It wasn't the rabbit, was it…?

Hinata finally climbed off of him, allowing him to look up at the tree and see what all the commotion was about. He was shocked to see a man standing on top of the sword, wearing one of the oddest outfits he had ever seen. He was shirtless, with striped pants and strange sleeve-looking things on his forearms and shins. The bottom half of his face was concealed by what looked like strips of gauze or cloth, and he wore his headband so that it wasn't covering his forehead, but his upper cranium. He looked dangerous.

Naruto angrily reached for his weapons pouch. The two Mist ninjas from before might have caught him with his pants down, but this freak sure as hell wouldn't. Kakashi, however, had other ideas. He was next to Naruto in a flash, placing a gloved hand on his chest, deliberately holding him back. Naruto glared up at his sensei. Now what was going on?!

He saw old man Tazuna standing several yards away, holding Sakura. Naruto almost sympathized with him: this was the third guy in a single day that was trying to polish him off.

"Well, well, if it isn't Zabuza Momochi," said Kakashi. "The missing-nin from the Hidden Mist Village." He was clearly trying to keep his voice dull and uninterested, though he failed due to the cold manner in which he spoke. "Don't interfere, Naruto," he said in a quieter tone. "Give me room." Naruto reluctantly took a couple of steps back, and collided into Hinata again. She murmured something and stepped aside, never tearing her eyes away from Zabuza, the strange Mist ninja.

"Ah, Kakashi of the Sharingan eye," said Zabuza. His voice was raspy and intimidating, filled with bloodlust. "I've been wanting to meet you in battle for a while now… Well, I'm on a tight schedule to kill the old man, and it looks like I'll have to kill you first, won't I?"

"Sharingan?" Naruto asked in a whisper to Hinata. "What the he-, heck is that?" Hinata looked at him, blushing slightly, but not as bad as she normally did.

"The Sharingan is the kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan," she responded quietly. Naruto realized that she had told him essentially nothing.

"Sure, but what does it do?"

"It's… a form of ocular ninjutsu," she reluctantly said. "It allows the user to see past any genjutsu and copy any ninjutsu they come across."

_Uchiha… So that asshole Sasuke has the Sharingan, huh? But why does Kakashi-sensei have it? His last name is Hatake, not Uchiha…_

"I have one, too," said Hinata, so quiet that Naruto could barely hear her. Her voice was high pitched, as if she really didn't want to be telling him this but was doing it anyway.

"You have a bloodline limit?" Hinata nodded. Naruto then remembered that she was from a clan, too. The Hyuga clan… What did they have? He couldn't believe that he didn't know. His teammate was a Hyuga, after all. He ought to know these things.

"Well then, if we have to fight…" Kakashi went on. It did not sound like a prospect he was looking forward to. He reached up for his headband and prepared to reveal something that none of the Genin had ever seen: his hidden eye.

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Kakashi unveiled his left eye, his Sharingan eye, and his ability to see in dimensions was greatly improved. Learning to see and coordinate your moves properly with only one eye was a difficult task, and one that took a lot of time and training to master. And it was a skill that needed to be mastered, for using the Sharingan eye he had received from Obito Uchiha drained his chakra by an almost ridiculous amount. He could not deactivate it; it was permanent. But by keeping it blind, it went into a sort of hibernation and did not drain his energy.

"Naruto, Hinata, take Tazuna and Sakura and get out of here," he ordered his team. "I'll fight Zabuza."

"What are you talking about?!" argued Naruto. "We can help!"

"Just go!" Kakashi commanded angrily. He could see both Zabuza and his Genin at the corners of his vision. Naruto looked ready to argue some more, but Hinata tugged on his sleeve and led him back to Tazuna. She was proving to be very good at restraining him. They left his line of sight before he saw them reach the two, and again concentrated on Zabuza.

Suddenly, the missing-nin disappeared from his spot on the tree, sword and all. He reappeared seconds later, standing on the water of the nearby lake, his enormous sword strapped to his back. He was making hand signs, performing some kind of jutsu. A heavy fog began to fall on them, blinding them all. _Shit…_

"Naruto, Hinata, disregard my previous order!" Kakashi yelled at them, wherever they were. "Guard Tazuna and Sakura!" Kakashi was just as blind as they were. Not even his Sharingan could penetrate the mist that Zabuza had created. _Wait… Maybe my Sharingan can't, but who's to say that another kekkei genkai can't, either?_ "Hinata, use your Byakugan!" he ordered.

"Yes, sensei!" she called back. The mist was now absolute; he could barely see two feet in front of him. But Hinata had just spoken. He followed her voice, and dashed to where he guessed they were. If Hinata was using her Byakugan, she would know that he was approaching. "Over here, sensei!" she called again. Yes, she knew that he was moving.

He got to them seconds after Hinata called to him for a second time, almost bumping into Naruto and making the boy scream in terror.

"_Throat,_" said Zabuza's voice from somewhere in the mist. It seemed to be coming from every direction at once. "_Spine, lungs, liver, the jugular vein, the subclavian artery, kidney, heart… so many targets to choose from…_" Zabuza's attempt at psychological warfare was working. He could hear all three conscious people behind him squirm. Kakashi realized that Zabuza would strike at any moment. He needed to come up with something that would fool the man, and quick…

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"Hinata, where is Zabuza?" asked Kakashi calmly. Naruto wasn't sure how Kakashi was expecting Hinata to be able to see any more than he did. Kakashi had that fancy Sharingan, didn't he? Then what could he possibly-

_I have one, too._ The words came back to him in a flash. Hinata's kekkei genkai must have been an ocular one, like Kakashi's. Whatever it was, he hoped it worked, before Zabuza got a chance to rip out his organs.

He could see Hinata out of the corner of his eye, but only barely. The mist was incredibly thick, and the only reason he was sure it was Hinata he was looking at was because he could hear her speak.

"There's… more than one," she said after several seconds. She gasped. "He's made clones, and they're heading straight toward us!"

"How many are there?"

"There are… three," Hinata said uncertainly.

"Thank you, Hinata," Kakashi said from out of the mist. "That's all I needed to know."

"Are they shadow clones?" Naruto whispered to Hinata. In the white mist, it looked like she shook her head, but it just as easily may have been a trick of the light.

"I don't know," she answered back. "I've never seen any other type of solid clone before, but I could be wrong."

Suddenly, the mist began to clear, so that Naruto could see clearly once more. Kakashi stood in front of them, ready to fight. Hinata also became more visible, to the extent that he could see her cheek, which had his blood smeared all over it. In the thought that was out of place in such a dangerous situation, he wished that he had cleaned up his wound better. Seeing something as nasty as blood on her just seemed too out of place, like defacing a work of art. The realization that he was still in a very dangerous situation came back and hit him when Zabuza, huge sword at the ready, suddenly appeared right in between him and Tazuna, taking advantage of the cloak of the fog. Reality, he figured, was a bitch.

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The next several seconds went by slowly for everyone. Kakashi moved like lightning, vanishing and reappearing again only to stick a kunai in the back of Zabuza, who had managed to get the drop on them. The Mist ninja convulsed in pain, then turned into a bunch of water, which fell down to the ground. One down.

Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, already swinging his giant sword by the time he was visible. Naruto pointed and let out a cry, even as the sword cut Kakashi in two. Like the water clone before him, the Kakashi before them turned into water and splashed down to earth. Zabuza was left standing there in surprise, evidently not expecting the Master of a Thousand Jutsu to know how to make a simple water clone. Kakashi capitalized on Zabuza's hesitation, appearing behind him, holding a kunai at his throat.

"Don't move," commanded the Jonin. "It's over."

Naruto almost laughed in relief. It really was over, they had Zabuza cornered. At least, that was the way it looked. Zabuza began to laugh.

"It hasn't even begun, Kakashi…" he croaked out. "It will take more than mimicry to beat me…"

"… A lot more," finished the real Zabuza, who was now standing behind Kakashi. The water clone that had been cornered turned back into liquid, like all the others. Two down… Zabuza swung his sword again at Kakashi, who jumped over the gleaming blade. Kakashi then used a taijutsu move that Naruto had never seen before: he spun in midair to give the kick he was throwing momentum, and hit Zabuza square in the face.

The Mist ninja had again underestimated Kakashi. He let out a groan, and flew backwards before landing on his back several yards away. The kick Kakashi had delivered had been incredibly powerful. Zabuza climbed back onto his feet, and hefted his sword up in preparation for a swing. He ran straight at Kakashi, and swung yet again. Again, he had no success. Kakashi jumped backwards and away from the giant sweeping blow, landing in the water of the lake.

"Fool!" Zabuza cried out triumphantly. Moving with incredible speed, he appeared behind Kakashi before the Jonin could react, rapidly forming hand signs. "Water Prison Jutsu!"

A sphere of water suddenly rose up from the lake and closed in on Kakashi. Zabuza had one hand in the sphere, apparently sustaining it. "This sphere is inescapable… you're trapped now!"

"You think so?" The Kakashi inside of the sphere turned into water and went back into the lake. Before Zabuza could even realize his terrible mistake, Kakashi was once again upon him, materializing from seemingly out of nowhere to deliver a crushing blow to Zabuza's face. The Mist ninja flew backwards yet again, splashing into the water some distance away. It was obvious now that that was not a water clone, as it would have lost its form after a blow like that.

Zabuza, using the surface of the water as leverage, climbed back up. His face by now had a rather beaten look to it, with the cloth covering it beginning to loosen and unravel. Despite all of this, he still looked unfazed.

"I'm going to kill you… The same way I killed all the others," he vowed, laughing without mirth.

Naruto fingered his weapons pouch anxiously. There was an opening. He could hit Zabuza, maybe in the face if he was lucky, with a kunai from where he was standing. But still, Kakashi had warned them to not interfere… Without thinking, he probed his hand into the bag and grabbed a kunai, gripping its handle loosely. He could feel himself drawing it out, before a soft hand grabbed his wrist. He looked to his right, and saw Hinata. She looked him in the eyes and gently shook her head, still not letting go of his wrist. Naruto sighed inwardly. She was right; he couldn't charge into battle, no matter how tempting it was. Kakashi might have a plan, and he would only serve to mess it up.

Zabuza glared at Kakashi. Without warning, he suddenly began forming hand seals, with Kakashi doing the same, mirroring Zabuza perfectly.

"Water Dragon Missile Jutsu!" they said in synchrony. Two enormous dragons, made entirely of water, rose up from the lake and threw themselves at each other. They were destroyed in a giant _bloosh_, and a tidal wave reached the shore, hitting Naruto, Hinata, and Tazuna (who was still holding Sakura), and carrying them away. Hinata had still been holding onto his wrist; Naruto grasped her's in his hand so as to not be separated from her.

The wave finally exhausted itself, and set them down somewhere a bit farther from the lake than they had been previously standing. He climbed up again, lifting Hinata up with him. Amazingly, neither of them had relinquished their hold on their counterpart's wrist. Hinata's grip on him was almost crushing by now; Naruto could feel his wrist throbbing beneath her fingers. Because of the adrenaline pumping through him, he could barely feel it, and so let it slide.

"Naruto, look!" said Hinata in shock. "It's Kakashi-sensei's Sharingan! That's how he's copying all of Zabuza's jutsus!"

Naruto looked. Before, he had figured that Kakashi knew the jutsu beforehand and had just gotten lucky. Now, he realized that Hinata was right, it wasn't luck. It was the power of the mysterious Sharingan.

"You mimic me like a parrot!" Zabuza roared, confirming Naruto's realization. "I'll shut you up for good!" He was halfway through forming a hand sign when he suddenly and inexplicably stopped. He looked at Kakashi, horrified. It as the weirdest thing Naruto had seen the Mist ninja do, and probably his stupidest mistake, as well. Kakashi had gone on to finish the jutsu Zabuza had abandoned.

"Giant Waterfall Jutsu!" A small cyclone of water appeared before Kakashi, then headed towards Zabuza, gaining in both speed and size, until it became a huge, speeding torrent of water heading straight for the paralyzed Mist ninja. It hit him with its full force, throwing him back like a ragdoll. Another tidal wave was formed as a result of the jutsu and reached the Genin and Tazuna, but it was nowhere nearly as large as the first one. Zabuza was thrown against a tree with incredible force; it was a miracle that his spine wasn't broken. Two kunai followed his landing with incredible speed, one imbedding itself in into the Mist ninja's arm and the other one in his thigh.

"Can you see the future?" he panted out at Kakashi. It seemed an absurd question to Naruto: what the hell did that have to do with anything? Kakashi was now sitting in one of the tree's branches, another kunai at the ready.

"I foresee," he said simply, "your death."

Two needles suddenly flew and went straight into Zabuza's neck; the ninja only had enough time for his eyes to register shock before he crumpled to the ground, dead. It took Naruto several seconds to realize that it wasn't Kakashi who had thrown them.

"Your prediction came true," said a voice. It was a strange voice; Naruto found it impossible to tell if it was a boy or a girl speaking. It came from a person standing in a tree not far from Kakashi's. He realized that it was even more impossible to tell when he saw that the person who said it was wearing a strange mask. It looked faintly like an ANBU mask, but it was flat and did not represent a sign of the zodiac. It had a small read swirl pattern on the bottom half, but was otherwise without decoration. The slits for the eyes were incredibly narrow, making it impossible to see the ninja's eyes. There was a symbol for the Hidden Mist Village on the forehead.

Kakashi jumped off of the tree and examined Zabuza's body. He was apparently satisfied, for he did not try to move the body or test its "death-ness."

"Thank you for the help," the strange Mist ninja went on. The more it talked, the more Naruto was sure it as a girl, but he couldn't be sure. "I hope you don't mind my interfering, but I wanted the satisfaction of killing Zabuza myself."

"Am I correct in assuming that you're a shinobi hunter?" asked Kakashi.

"You are," confirmed the ninja. "It is my duty and art to track down rogues and outlaws such as Zabuza Momochi."

Naruto looked up at the shinobi hunter, and realized that, whatever the gender, it was still just a kid, maybe a year or two older than he was. He felt a strange sort of anger boiling up within him. What right did he have to…? It wasn't fair! Angrily, he wrenched has wrist out of Hinta's hand and ran toward the shinobi hunter, stopping when he neared the foot of the tree he was standing in.

"Who are you?!" he bellowed. "What's going on here?!" The shinobi hunter looked down at him quizzically.

"Relax, Naruto," said Kakashi, climbing to his feet. "We're not enemies."

"That's not what I asked! I mean, that guy killed Zabuza…! It took you forever to just corner him like that, and this 'shinobi hunter' or whatever comes along and kills him in less than a second! What's up with that?! Do we really suck that bad?!" In his rage, Naruto got down on his knees and began punching the ground, needing some sort of way to vent his anger and frustration and jealousy…

"It's a fact that we'll have to live with, Naruto," said Kakashi, making his way over to him. Naruto, his fist now a bloody mess, stopped hitting the ground and sat up. "In this world, there are ninja who are younger than you… and stronger than me."

Naruto looked up at Kakashi curiously. He was okay with that?

"I must be off now," said the shinobi hunter, who had appeared next to Zabuza's body. "You're battle is over for now, and the remains need to be disposed of…"

"Hold on," said Kakashi. The shinobi hunter froze in place, and whipped their head around to look at the Jonin.

"I have a verbal message I want delivered to Konoha. Can you deliver it for me?"

"Certainly," said the Mist ninja, sounding relieved for some reason. What had they been expecting Kakashi to say?

"Tell Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, that Kakashi Hatake is requesting reinforcements for Team 7. ANBU, if he can spare any."

"You certainly don't play around, do you? Very well, I shall deliver the message. Until another time…" He hefted Zabuza's body over his shoulder, and disappeared in a whirlwind.

"Well then, let's get going. We've got some distance to go before-" Kakashi let out a groan midsentence as his knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out, and rushed to his side. Hinata ran up a few seconds later, with Tazuna not far behind. "Hinata, can you tell what's wrong with him?" he asked desperately. She looked down at the Jonin.

"I think using the Sharingan so much must have exhausted him…" she said quietly. "I don't think he can move." Indeed, Kakashi looked unconscious, a state in which few people could move. It looked like they were going to have to carry him.

"Tazuna," Naruto said, deciding to take charge of the situation. "You carry Kakashi. I'll take Sakura."

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**Quote of the Day:**

"The law is a ass."

-Charles Dickens


	7. Towards the Sun

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 7: Towards the Sun _

The walk to town wasn't long, and it wasn't hard to find Tazuna's house, an old wooden building on the seashore. The old man had been getting tired and whiny about carrying Kakashi slung over his shoulder, but Naruto ignored him. He was too busy worrying about other things. Carrying Sakura and walking had proven to be a challenge: she was taller than he was and weighed about as much. When they finally got there, the two Genin met Tazuna's daughter, Tsunami.

She turned out to be a very hospitable hostess, quickly laying out two sleeping bags for Kakashi and Sakura. She either had a meal ready or she cooked with lightning speed; there was dinner on the table before Naruto even had a chance to wash up. The food was good, but Naruto couldn't tell if it was only because he was starving that he liked it.

After he finished eating, Tsunami began fussing over his wound, insisting on putting a long bandage over his face. He reluctantly agreed, only giving in after she said that she would look at Sakura and Kakashi after she was done with him. However, she was surprised when he told her that he had received the wound from earlier in the day. For some reason, she had been under the impression that he had been cut at least a few days ago, judging by how healed it was. She claimed to have some training as a nurse from several years ago, and rubbed some sort of medicinal cream on his face before applying the bandage. It felt cool and relaxing; she promised that it would reduce the swelling.

He was at her side the entire time that she inspected Sakura. She gently removed the hastily applied bandages that wrapped across her stomach, which were now stained with dried blood. She saw the wound and let out a low whistle.

"That one's going to leave a scar," she said. The cut looked only partially healed, especially in comparison to Naruto's. It was a cruel-looking wound, with jagged edges and a deep center. Tsunami applied more than one cream on Sakura, and then fetched her some new bandages. These were applied much more carefully and snuggly than the previous ones, with the promise of letting Sakura rest easier. Sakura stirred only slightly as they worked on her. After she had initially received her wound, Kakashi had given her some sort of powerful narcotic, which had left her going in and out of consciousness all day.

Kakashi looked like he was going to be out for a while longer, perhaps until the next day. Tsunami claimed as much when she knelt down beside him and looked him over. He had his Sharingan eye covered once again, to prevent any more of his chakra being drained. Certainly the Sharingan was useful and impressive, but was it really worth it?

Tsunami got up and left the room, leaving Naruto alone in with the two injured ninjas. He looked down at Sakura again. Looking at her face, he felt the incredible mountain of guilt all over again. She was only like this because of him. He had replayed the moment when the two Mist ninja had been speeding toward him over and over again in his mind, seeing the moment that he could have struck, but had been too afraid to even move…

Sakura and Hinata hadn't frozen up. They had been ready to fight. Naruto had been the weak link in the chain, and so the whole thing had collapsed. So why did Sakura have to be the one to suffer for it? He reached out and gently brushed her soft cheek with the back of his hand, knowing that this was probably the only way he would ever be able to do this. Sakura had always hated him, and he had felt his heart break every time she said it. Now, he didn't blame her. He deserved to be hated. And now she would have a scar as a permanent reminder, while he wouldn't even have to suffer that.

Naruto had never felt like this before: he actually wanted something bad to happen to him. He wanted things to be evened out, with him getting what he deserved. Then, maybe, his guilt would lift, just a little…

He climbed to his feet and headed outside. He needed air, and a place to think. The room in which he had been sitting had suddenly seemed far too cramped for his liking. He made his way onto the wooden planks lining the outside of the house, jutting over the water. They were supported by poles with bases below the surface of the water. It looked like it was the perfect place for someone to sit down and admire the sunset, with the cool water at their feet giving the place a very pleasant feel. Hell, if he wasn't a boy, he would have called it romantic.

He was about to sit down when he noticed for the first time that someone was already sitting there. It was Hinata. He had wanted to be alone, but he guessed he could deal with Hinata being there, too. It wasn't as if she talked too much or annoyed him. In fact, she was starting to grow on him.

He sat down next to her, and she turned her head to look at him. He noticed that she wasn't even blushing this time. The sun was beginning to set, and it shed its pale orange light on her. He noticed that she was really pretty for probably the first time. He had never thought about her looks much one way or the other before; he had barely even noticed her before she had been put onto his team instead of Sasuke (for which he was still grateful).

Now he realized just how lucky he was to be on the same team with her. She was both a good fighter and someone who thought things over before blindly rushing into things, which might have saved his life back in their encounter with Zabuza. Right then was the first time that he had really noticed her as a person, not just some girl who was on his team.

It was also the first time that he had noticed her looks, too. She had cleaned up the blood on her cheek by now, restoring her face to its normal appearance. Even though he hated to admit it (for some reason he couldn't put his finger on), Hinata was actually even prettier than Sakura. He still had a crush on the pink-haired kunoichi (and with her injury being all his fault, he was even less willing to admit, even to himself, that someone was better than her in anything), but he still had to concede that simple fact.

"Hello, Naruto," said the Hyuga softly. She sounded sad. He suddenly realized that he had been staring at her, and felt his face go red. Hopefully, with the sun setting, she wouldn't notice.

"Hi, Hinata," he replied, and tried flashing her a grin.

Hinata gave him a small smile, then turned back to look at the sun. What was she sad about? Naruto wished he could help. Everything bad around here seemed to be his fault…

"You love her, don't you?" Hinata asked him quietly. She wasn't looking at him, though, choosing instead to gaze out at the sea.

"Do you mean Sakura?" Naruto asked. Hinata nodded her head. She looked like she was biting her lip. "I'm not sure about love. I've never been really sure about love."

"What do you mean?" Hinata asked. She had turned to look at him again. This, time, it was Naruto that chose to look out at the sunset instead of Hinata. Painful memories flashed back at him.

"I mean, everyone I know except Iruka has always hated me. Everyone. The parents, the teachers, the students… I've never even had a family. As far as I know, no one seems to know who they were, either. I'm not even sure I know what it feels like to love or be loved." Naruto clenched his fists, suddenly remembering every bad thing that the villagers had done to him. Calling him names, chasing him away from parties and restaurants, throwing eggs at his apartment window, emptying buckets of dog crap over his head when he walked down the street… And it always seemed to get even worse on October 10th, his birthday. He remembered crying himself to sleep almost every night, not knowing why everyone hated him, not knowing what to do. But now he knew why they had done all of those things.

"I'm sorry, Naruto," said Hinata. This time she sounded regretful. "I know what it's like to lose a parent, but you… You never even knew your family. You were always alone. I sometimes feel alone, but you, you really were alone."

"You've lost a parent?"

"My mother died not very long after my little sister was born," said Hinata. "I have nice memories of her, though. She was a very kind, beautiful woman. After she died, my father was never quite the same, he took it very hard. He'd been different ever since my uncle, his brother, was killed. But when she died… I guess it was sort of like the last straw for him. He became very cold and distant after it happened."

"That's… hard," was all Naruto could reply. Hinata didn't look like she had ever suffered emotionally. He guessed that he had been looking at her the wrong way. He wondered what was harder: losing a family member or having never met them in the first place? He would never feel the second one now, though.

"Yes, but… _no one hated me!_" she suddenly cried out, bursting into tears. Naruto hesitantly reached out and touched her shoulder.

"Hey… it's okay, you don't need to cry…" What was going on? Had the memory of her mother's death really affected her like this?

"No, it's not okay," she sobbed. "You, you never did anything to anybody, and they still, they still…" She didn't continue, but instead burst into fresh sobs. She was crying… for him?

It was strange hearing her cry. Naruto wanted to do something, to help her. So he reached out and hugged her. He had never hugged a girl before, and didn't really know how to go about doing it. Did they get hurt if you did it too hard? Did they get mad or anything?

All those thoughts flew out of his mind when Hinata practically flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing so hard it seemed like she was trying to crush him. She continued sobbing into his shoulder as he just sat there, clueless. He tried rubbing her on the back a little bit to see if it would help, but it didn't seem to make any difference. She just continued trying to say something in between her sobs, which wound up just sounding like an incoherent babble. Naruto had never seen anyone cry like this before; it was like Hinata was letting every single bad moment she had ever experienced come to the surface of her memory so she could cry it out. But if she was crying for him…?

How long were they sitting there? Was it five minutes, or an hour? Naruto had no sense of time; everything seemed to be happening to him at once, and he was beginning to feel overwhelmed. He dimly realized that she must not hate him for failing Sakura after all: she wouldn't be hugging him so tightly and crying on him if she did, would she? Her sobs gradually receded, and she stopped clutching him as if she wanted to squeeze the air out of his lungs.

"It's okay, Hinata," he finally whispered into her ear. "I'm here. You don't need to cry anymore."

"I, I wasn't there for you, though," she said, sniffling. "You were all alone, you had nobody…"

"What do you mean you 'weren't there' for me?" asked Naruto, puzzled. "Did we even know each other back then?" Hinata composed herself, picking her head up off of his shoulder so she could look at his face. Her own face was very red, her eyes shiny. Her cheeks were wet from all her tears.

"You say that everyone hated you," she answered. "I didn't hate you. I never hated you, Naruto. Ever… ever since we were kids I've… I've wanted to be your friend."

"You… what?" Naruto was in shock; somebody had actually liked him when he was a kid? She had liked him? Why had he never really noticed her? To think, all this time… They might have been best friends. Hinata continued to gaze into his eyes sadly.

"You like Sakura, though," she said quietly. "I understand."

"Well, yeah, I do like Sakura, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends, does it? I like you a lot, too," said Naruto, flashing her another grin. She stared at him for several seconds before her face split into a smile as well. She hugged him again, and Naruto hugged her back, wishing that this could have happened six years ago.

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Sakura woke up the next morning with her stomach incredibly sore. For several seconds, all she could feel or think about was the pain. Then it started to get better, and she was able to think clearly again. She struggled to remember why she wasn't back home in bed when she remembered she was on a mission. She suddenly remembered getting hurt; the spiked chain slicing towards her like a whip, hitting her and slashing her open…

But Naruto was the one who had been in real danger. He had been standing there like a moron until she screamed at him to get out of the way of the attack from the two ninjas. He had gotten back to his senses and ducked out of the way, and even managed to recover enough to throw some kunais and shurikens at their backs.

He could have died; the chain would have cut him in half. She had gotten hurt, yes, but she was still alive. Naruto wouldn't have been if she hadn't warned him. She sighed inwardly when she realized for the first time that that would only make him chase her skirt even harder, but at least he would still be alive to do it.

A dark-haired woman kneeled down next to her and felt her forehead. Sakura had never seen her, or this house, before and was feeling a bit disoriented.

"You don't have a fever, thank goodness," said the woman and withdrew her hand. "Now let's see how your stomach is doing."

Her stomach burned with new pain as the woman unraveled the bandages and looked at the wound. She rubbed several different creams on it, then fetched her some fresh bandages. Sakura felt the area around her injury flare with a comfortable warmth that made the small discomfort she had experienced with the inspection seem a miniscule price to pay.

She turned in her sleeping bag, and saw Naruto's sleeping form lying several feet away from her. He was still wearing his orange clothes, but he had removed his headband in favor of his stupid nightcap. He was lying face up with his arms outstretched, mouth hanging open in exhaustion. Why was he asleep on the hard floor? Wasn't there any other place he could sleep? She suddenly heard Kakashi talk from somewhere to her right, and she turned to look at him.

"I think I overdid it with the Sharingan…" were the Jonin's first words. He was lying in a sleeping bag, too. He looked like he'd been injured.

"Waking up, huh? Are you alright?" asked the dark-haired woman, hands on her hips.

"I've been better," replied Kakashi. "It'll be a week before I can move normally," he groaned out as he struggled to sit up. Apparently, he had some experience with exhaustion-by-Sharingan. What had happened while she was out? She had almost no recollection of what had happened after her injury. Almost all she remembered was going down the dark tunnel as someone held her, keeping her warm.

"Right, so it would be better if you _didn't_ move, so lay back down," said the woman sternly.

"Er, right," said Kakashi, and settled back down into his sleeping bag. Everyone else was either still asleep or simply somewhere else, and so they were left undisturbed.

"You better get your rest, too," the woman said to Sakura. "That boy has hardly left your side since you got here," she said, pointing at Naruto, "making sure that you're alright. He only barely fell asleep a few hours ago. The least you can do is take care of yourself for his sake."

Sakura looked at Naruto in shock. He had been making sure that she was alright? He hadn't even slept at all until a little while ago, either. That was… sweet. That was something that she had never thought she would think about Naruto, but it was nonetheless true. It sounded like something from a movie or a soap opera, not something that loudmouthed, annoying Naruto would do.

She lied back down and fell asleep, confusing thoughts running around her head.

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Hinata did her best to avoid going into the room where the rest of Team 7 was. She was happy to know that Naruto was willing to be her friend, and didn't think that she was some weirdo. Knowing that gave her hope, that maybe, one day, Naruto would consider her to be more than just a friend.

But whenever she saw him looking after Sakura, it made all of her hope vanish. The way he looked at her with so much love in his eyes, the way he never left her side, choosing instead to sleep on the hard floor just so he could be around her… It made her certain that he could not love anyone else the same way. He said that he didn't know anything about love, but that didn't mean he was incapable of it, which was something that he hadn't quite understood. Sometimes, however, she ventured into the room anyways, if for no other reason than to feast her eyes on her heart's desire.

During one time that she had wandered into the room, both Kakashi and Sakura were awake, with Naruto sitting in between them.

"Hi, Hinata!" Naruto had called out to her happily. For some reason, Hinata felt her face go red and she wished that she had never entered. Was it because Sakura was awake? If it was, it didn't make any sense. The pink-haired girl barely looked at her before looking away again.

Both of the injured ninjas in the room were out of their sleeping bags and sitting up. Naruto seemed much more cheerful now that Sakura was up and about. She didn't feel very comfortable being there, but sat herself down between Kakashi and Naruto anyway.

"I'm glad to see that you're both doing better now," she said quietly. "Yesterday, neither of you were even moving."

"Yeah, we're feeling better now," said Kakashi brightly.

"I'm sure that you can all take a little vacation," said Tazuna, who was in the room. "I mean, you just killed your most skilled enemy, after all."

"And the reinforcements Kakashi asked for should be coming soon," said Naruto optimistically. "Tomorrow at the latest, but that girl looked like she could move pretty quick."

"That masked kid that you two keep on talking about seems weird," said Sakura. "I wish that I could have been awake to see her."

"Like I said, he's a shinobi hunter from the Hidden Mist Village, an elite and secret unit," explained Kakashi. "They're codenamed the 'Inferno Squad,' because they dispose of corpses so thoroughly, it's as if they never existed. Even after death, a shinobi may give away the secrets of their village through their remains. Even the ingredients of any drugs or potions that they might have taken would be an open book for the enemy to read. In the same way, if an enemy were to kill me, they would be able to study the body of the effects of the Sharingan. In the worst case, they might even be able to duplicate it and use it against the village. Ninja corpses simply tell too many tales. It is the shinobi hunter's duty to recover the body of one of their own, even a traitor like Zabuza, and obliterate the remains. It is necessary to protect their village."

"So that Zabuza guy's body is going to be obliterated?" asked Sakura, grimacing. She hadn't seen Zabuza during the battle, and had no idea of what he looked like. Even Hinata felt slightly uncomfortable about the idea of having her body remorselessly destroyed to protect the secret of the Byakugan, even though it was the Branch Family's task to do that. The Hyuga Clan had many dark secrets, and Hinata was sure that not even she knew all of them.

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The shinobi hunter rolled out his supply of medical equipment, as the body of Zabuza Momochi lay before him.

"First," said the elite ninja, talking to himself, "I'll cut the bandages and drain some of the blood." He had a pair of medical scissors in his hand and, he slowly leaned in toward the rogue ninja. He gasped when the man's hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his wrist. Zabuza's eyes were wide open and bloodshot; he used his other hand to pull down the bandage covering his mouth, revealing rows of abnormally sharp teeth.

"That's enough!" he said angrily. "I'll do it!"

"So," said the masked ninja, regaining his cool composure. "You've already come back to life."

Zabuza groaned and sat up. "Dammit!" he said angrily, pulling a senbon out of his neck. "You're brutal, Haku!"

"You're the one who's brutal, Zabuza," said Haku. "If you keep pulling them out like that, you really will be finished."

Zabuza roughly yanked the second senbon out of his neck, completely disregarding what Haku had just said. "How long are you planning on wearing that phony mask?" he asked angrily, referring to his "Inferno Squad" mask. "Take it off!"

" I have good memories of this mask," replied Haku, reaching up and grasping the edges with his fingers. "And it was quite useful for tricking that ninja." He pulled his mask off, revealing the face of a boy not much older than any of the Genin he had encountered not very long ago. It was a face that many would easily confuse for a girl's, with large, shining eyes and long eyelashes, with long hair lining his cheeks. "If I hadn't intervened, you'd be dead now, that much is certain. Honestly, that was possibly your worst performance I've ever seen."

"There was something funny going on during that battle. My mist was completely ineffective against him; I've never seen anything like it. It's like he could see straight through it. Or at least, somebody with him could." He rubbed his neck and growled. "You know, putting me in a temporary death state is fine, but not through the pressure points on my neck!" He adjusted the bandage so that it covered his mouth once again. "Cruel as usual. I think you enjoy it."

"It was the only sure way," explained Haku. "And I wouldn't want to mark up your flawless body, you'd complain even more. The neck is more vulnerable. There's no layer of muscle, so I could go straight to the pressure points."

Zabuza groaned and tried to stand up, but failed.

"There's no point in moving," Haku told him. "You'll be numb for a week. Although, if you're stubborn as usual, you'll probably be moving in half the time."

"You're so innocent, and yet clever at the same time," said Zabuza, sounding annoyed. "Rare combination. That's why I keep you around." Haku laughed.

"I'm still a kid. What else would you expect?" He stood up and looked around. "The mist is clearing," he proclaimed. "Next time, will you be alright?"

Zabuza glowered. "I still don't know who saw straight through my mist, or how they did it. So next time, we'll just have to kill them all!"

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Kakashi had placed his hand over his face, deep in thought. Out of the blue, he had the strangest feeling that he had missed something important.

"Sensei?" asked Sakura curiously.

"Oh, right," said Kakashi, concentrating on the Genin in front of him again. "Where was I? Shinobi hunters destroy the bodies of those they recover right on the spot, so there's no room for error."

"And?"

"Think about it. What did the shinobi hunter do with Zabuza's body after he left?"

"I don't know," said Naruto. "She took the body away to somewhere else." The Genin and the Jonin still couldn't agree on what gender the shinobi hunter was, which was made apparent in the way they referred to the character.

"Exactly," confirmed Kakashi. "And there is also the method in which he killed Zabuza that ought to be questioned."

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura. "You guys said that she threw needles right into his neck. And besides, you said so yourself that you checked Zabuza's body. You said his heart had stopped."

"Yes. Those needles were senbon, or acupuncture needles. They can kill if they hit a vital organ, but otherwise have a surprisingly low mortality rate. All shinobi hunters possess an intimate knowledge of human physiology, such as the many pressure points. In other words, it would be child's play for one of them to put a person into a state very much like death. Not even a medic-nin would be able to tell the difference, unless they were incredibly skilled."

"So… You mean to say…" Naruto sounded in shock.

"Based on those two facts, we have no choice but to conclude that the shinobi hunter was not there to kill Zabuza, but to _save_ him."

The three Genin gasped in shock. Sakura had never seen Zabuza, but the idea of him still being alive scared even her. Hinata, who had seen him, would certainly not be looking forward to fighting him again. Naruto, however, seemed to be trembling with excitement, a smile on his face.

_He's actually looking forward to a chance to fight Zabuza again…_

"But Kakashi-sensei, what are we supposed to do?" asked Sakura worriedly. "You won't be fully recovered for a week!"

"Simple," said Kakashi. "I'm going to increase your training!"

"What?! Training?!" asked Sakura, bewildered. "Zabuza is way too powerful for a little training to make any difference!"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," agreed Hinata. "Can't we simply wait for the reinforcements to arrive?"

"Don't you remember who it is I asked to send the message home?"

"Yeah!" said Sakura. "It was that masked… Oh."

"Exactly. We're not going to be getting any help from home. I'm not even in the right condition to summon one of my nin-dogs yet. So, training it is."

"But… if Zabuza is still alive… what's stopping him from coming back?" asked Hinata.

"That's a good point. However, it will take Zabuza a while to recover from his death state, as it would for anyone else."

"When we meet Zabuza again, we'll slaughter him!" said Naruto enthusiastically. "Believe it!"

"Well, I _don't_ believe it," said a voice from behind them. They turned and saw a small boy wearing dark overalls over a white shirt and a hat far too large for his small head.

"Who are you?!" Naruto angrily asked the strange child.

"Inari!" cried out Tazuna happily, arms outstretched. "Where have you been?"

"Welcome back, Grandpa!" said the little boy, and ran into Tazuna's arms.

"Inari!" said Tsunami sternly, just walking into the room. "That was very rude! Those ninjas helped your grandfather and brought him home safely!"

"That's okay!" said Tazuna, laughing and rubbing Inari's head. "I'm rude to them, too!" Inari looked around at Team 7.

"Mom, don't you see, these people are going to die!" said Inari, stepping away from his grandfather. "Gato and his men will come and find them and wipe them out!"

"What did you say, brat?!" asked Naruto furiously. "You know what a super ninja is? Well, that's me only a lot better! I'm going to be Hokage! This Gato or Blato or whatever he's called is no match for a real hero like me!"

"There's no such thing as a hero," retorted Inari. "You're just full of stupid ideas!"

"What did you say?!" Sakura and Hinata both had to grab one of his arms to stop him from attacking the little boy.

"If you wanna stay alive, you should go back where you came from," said Inari darkly. He suddenly turned to leave the room, apparently getting fed up with Naruto's arrogant behavior.

"Inari, wait, where are you going?" Tazuna called after him.

"To look out at the ocean," Inari answered, sliding the doors open. Kakashi noted, with a thought incongruous to the situation, that the doors were decorated with the same symbol that adorned the sleeves of Hinata's jacket. "I want to be alone!" Inari added angrily, slamming the doors shut behind him.

"Sorry about that," said Tazuna, sounding embarrassed.

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Naruto growled angrily as he charged up the stairs. "Who does that brat think he is?" he angrily asked out loud. "I'll put him in his place right now!" He made it to Inari's door, but stopped when he heard sobs coming from inside. It sounded eerily similar to the way Hinata had been crying on his shoulder the previous afternoon.

_Huh? He's crying?_

He peered through a crack in the doorway. Inari was sitting on his desk right in front of the window, which had a spectacular view of the ocean. But he wasn't looking out at the ocean like he'd said he would; instead, it looked like he was looking at a picture in his hands.

"… Daddy…" it sounded like Inari said.

Naruto sadly averted his eyes. Come to think of it, Tazuna was the only man he had seen in this house. And he remembered crying in a very similar fashion when he was about Inari's age, too. He turned around and went back down the stairs, where the rest of Team 7 would be.

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Team 7 had gathered outdoors on the outskirts of a forest, at the feet of a bunch of trees. Kakashi was supported by crutches, while Sakura was simply sitting down at the foot of a tree. Kakashi had said that she would be excused from the type of training that Naruto and Hinata were about to undertake.

"Alright," said Kakashi. "Training starts now."

"Right!" said Naruto excitedly, clenching his fists in anticipation.

"First," said Kakashi, raising a finger in the air, "we'll begin with a review of chakra, a ninja's basic source of power. Understanding chakra is essential."

"Uh, yeah," said Naruto, not quite so enthusiastically this time. "Katra, I've heard of that."

"Chakra…" said Kakashi exasperatedly. "Go ahead, Sakura," he said, gesturing to the kunoichi.

"Alright, Naruto," said Sakura from her spot under a tree. "I'll explain it simply so that you can understand it." She drew a deep breath before continuing. "Chakra is, to put it simply, energy that a ninja requires to perform jutsu. There are two types of energy: physical and spiritual. They combine to form what we know as chakra. In effect, all jutsu are born of a combination of these two energies, which is brought forth from the body and spirit. It is then focused and manipulated with the use of hand signs."

"Right on all points," said Kakashi. "Iruka-sensei really did have some excellent students." Sakura grinned smugly, while Naruto was still trying to make sense of what she had just said.

"What's the big deal with all these complicated explanations?" he asked angrily. "The point is to learn the jutsu, isn't it?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," agreed Hinata. "Haven't we already been using jutsus?"

"No," said Kakashi. "You have not mastered this power, you've barely scratched the surface of it!"

"What do you mean?!" asked Naruto, still not getting it.

"Calm down and listen," said the Jonin. "It's just like Sakura said. You have to call on physical and spiritual energies, and then combine them within yourself. But how will you do that? Each jutsu requires different types of chakra in different proportions. You must select them and combine them in exactly the right way. Up 'till now, you've just guessed at the proportions, hoping they'd come out right. Even if you produce a lot of chakra, unless you can balance and control it, it's all worthless. The jutsu won't work at all, or it'll just be a joke. You waste a lot of energy that way. You'll run out of chakra and you won't be able to fight at all, you'll just be a target."

"Uh, so how do we change that? Heh heh…" said Naruto, scratching the back of his head.

"By training so hard that controlling your chakra becomes second nature," replied Kakashi. "To achieve this goal you must be ready to put your life on the line."

"How do we do that?" asked Naruto.

"Simple," answered Kakashi. "We climb trees!"

"Climb trees?!" asked Naruto, bewildered.

"Yes," replied Kakashi. "Only here, you can't use your hands."

"What are you talking about, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Hinata, confused.

"Just watch and learn," he responded, and brought his hands together, closing his eyes in concentration. A wave of dust seemed to kick up around the Jonin's feet. He then ambled toward the nearest tree, and placed one of his feet on its trunk. To the amazement of the three Genin, he continued walking straight up, parallel to the ground below. He continued until he was standing on one of the branches, hanging upside down.

"Well, that's it," he said. "Focus all of your chakra to the soles of your feet and use it to walk up the trunk. When you have full mastery of your chakra, something like this will become easy."

"But, how will that help us fight Zabuza?" asked Naruto. "It seems useless!"

"That's the only way to fight Zabuza, Naruto," answered Kakashi. "It's the entire goal of the training. First, you'll learn to concentrate a precise amount of chakra in a precise point in your body. This is difficult even for advanced ninja. This type of climbing requires a subtle mix of spiritual and physical energy, to use no more than is necessary, and to maximize its effectiveness in where and how it is applied. That control is the most critical aspect of every jutsu you'll ever apply. It's also the most difficult skill for any ninja to command. This is especially difficult, since the bottom of the foot is the hardest place to manipulate your chakra. In other words, if you can master the control needed for this skill, no jutsu should ever be beyond you. In theory, anyway."

_This is awesome!_ thought Naruto. _I'll become Hokage even faster if I can do this!_

"The second objective," Kakashi went on, "is to build up enough stamina necessary to complete your task once your chakra has been focused. If you think _this_ looks hard, it's even more difficult to maintain your chakra when using a jutsu. In battle, circumstances are constantly changing, and a ninja has to be able to manipulate and maintain their chakra on the fly, if they ever hope to prevail. The time you need to just stand around trying to summon and control your powers is a luxury you won't have. So while you're climbing these trees, you'll also be learning skills that will probably save your lives later." He pulled out two kunais with one of his hands. "Well, I can talk about this all day, but that won't enhance you're skills will it? The only way you'll learn is if you go out and actually do it."

He threw the kunais, and they landed at Naruto's and Hinata's feet. Sakura was left out, but she was in no condition to try climbing trees.

"Use the kunai knives to mark the tree at the highest point you can reach. On your next try, mark even higher, and so on. Your goal is to eventually make it all the way to the top. I don't expect either of you to get it on your first try. Running will give you enough momentum for a good first try. Got it?"

"No sweat!" said Naruto, picking up his kunai. "I'll be on top of the tree by breakfast, believe it!"

_I really wish he'd stop saying that…_ thought Kakashi. _He sounds so immature when he does._

"Well, you'll certainly have done the most talking by the time it's breakfast, now shut up and go!" ordered Kakashi.

Naruto and Hinata brought their hands together, mimicking Kakashi, concentrating their chakra to their feet. They picked their trees, then ran to them, gaining momentum. Naruto was faster, and got to his tree first. His foot touched the trunk, and he fell off immediately, landing on his head and crying out in pain. Hinata, on the other hand, made it surprisingly far up before she lost her ability to cling to the tree, and gracefully flipped off, landing on her feet.

_That's about what I expected of Naruto_, thought Kakashi._ Hinata, she's a Hyuga. Their lot has a specific style, one that's all about chakra control. I shouldn't be surprised that she made it so far up._

He started walking back down the tree again. "Okay, you two, try it again," he called out to them.

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Haku sat at Zabuza's side as the man lay in bed at their hideout, recuperating. The door suddenly creaked open, and in walked the midget Gato and his samurai bodyguards, who were armed with katanas. Neither of them actually looked like samurai; they just looked like a couple of thugs, which was essentially all they were.

"Some Jonin!" said Gato as he walked inside. "The unbeatable ninja just got beat, limping back home like some pathetic has-been. Demon of the Hidden Mist… More like Coward of the Hidden Mist!" He laughed at his own joke.

Angrily, Haku stood up to his full height, all five feet of him. The two guards grabbed the hilts of their katanas, anticipating trouble.

"Drawing swords?" Haku asked calmly.

"Hang on a minute," said Gato, walking past his guards and waving a hand in the air. "Alright, let's see what you have to say about this fiasco," he said to Zabuza, walking towards his bed. "And don't play possum, I know you can talk!" He reached out to grab the ninja's facemask.

Haku moved faster than anyone could see, grabbing Gato's wrist before he could even touch Zabuza. The man gasped in pain.

"Keep your filthy hands off of him!" Haku said threateningly.

"Ah! You're gonna break it!"

The guards quickly moved to attack Haku, but Haku moved even faster. Before either of the samurai knew what had happened, they found that they had their partner's katana blade aiming straight at their own throat.

"Don't push me," warned Haku. "I'm in a really foul mood." He wrenched the swords out of their owner's hands and discarded them.

"One chance, that's it!" Gato said angrily, holding his wrist. "If you fail this time, I'll cut you off, and there'll be no one left to cover for you!" He turned for the door. "Let's go," he muttered to his guards, who followed him out the door without even picking up their katanas.

"Haku, that wasn't necessary," said Zabuza once they had gone. He was holding a kunai in his hand, which was concealed beneath the covers of the bed. Haku had actually saved Gato's life, though the man would never know it.

"Perhaps," conceded the boy. "But it's too early to take out Gato. He's still our best cover. Think about it. The murders would draw _their_ attention. Then they'd be after us again."

They both had the vision of a team of Mist Village ANBU moving swiftly through some unknown location, on the trail of Zabuza.

"Right," said Zabuza.

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"Alright, Sakura, do you understand what you have to do?" Kakashi asked the pink-haired kunoichi. For some reason, she was still wearing her torn pink shirt, even though Tsunami had offered to give her one of her old shirts to wear. It looked no less comical than when Kakashi had first noticed how funny it looked.

"I think so, Kakashi-sensei," she replied. Her bandages had been removed, and her wound was clearly visible again. She brought her hands together and closed her eyes in concentration, trying to gather up her chakra in a specific point.

"That's it," encouraged Kakashi. "Focus on healing your wound. Gather up all of your chakra in that one spot and use it to heal." Using chakra for medical purposes had never been one of his strengths. It was something incredibly advanced, and required absurdly precise chakra control: the chances of Sakura being able to completely heal her wound on her first try were around absolute zero. But Kakashi decided that she needed to practice her chakra control as well, and it wouldn't hurt if she aimed her efforts at trying to heal herself.

Or was it, maybe, that when he saw Sakura, he saw Rin instead? Was he being delusional, imagining that his student was a medic-nin just like one of his childhood friends? He forced himself to push the painful memories of his lost friends out of his head and concentrated once more on Sakura.

Her eyes were screwed shut in intense concentration, trying to heal her cut but failing. That was it: she was trying too hard.

"Why don't you try it another way?" suggested Kakashi. "Concentrate the chakra to your fingers, then use it to heal your cut externally."

Sakura looked up at him curiously; Kakashi wished she hadn't. From that angle, she looked a lot like Rin.

"Yes, Sensei," she said, and tried it again. He watched Sakura try the second method when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He turned to look, and saw Hinata standing there, apparently having something to say to him.

"What is it, Hinata?" he asked her.

"I've made it all the way to the top, Kakashi-sensei," she said. "I left my kunai all the way up there as proof."

"Really? Good job." Kakashi turned back to observe Sakura, but Hinata stopped him once again.

"Kakashi-sensei? Can I ask you a question?" Hinata asked timidly.

"You just did," he replied. Hinata blushed in embarrassment. "Okay, what is it?"

"Have you… ever heard of a nine-tailed fox before?" Hinata asked after much hesitation. Kakashi felt his grip on his crutches slip; he barely managed to grab them before he toppled over and made a spectacle of himself.

"A what?" he asked stupidly. She couldn't have just said what he thought she said. He must have misunderstood her. There was no way she could know about what had happened…

"A nine-tailed fox, Sensei," Hinata repeated. "A Kyubi."

Kakashi looked down at her, but he didn't really see her. Instead, he was seeing a memory from twelve years ago that he hoped had been buried forever.

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Kakashi held the baby in his arms as it looked up at him curiously. It was a boy, with blond hair and blue eyes. The infant was all wrapped up in a bundle of blue cloth, in an attempt to keep him warm in the cold evening. He reached out with a small hand towards Kakashi's face, and grabbed onto the facemask, trying to pull it down. The Jonin laughed and gently swatted the hand away; for a second or two, the baby looked like he was angry with him.

"Kakashi," said a man's voice. "The time is almost here. I think that the fox will be here at any moment. Have my son ready."

"Yes, Sensei," Kakashi said. He looked down at the Fourth Hokage's son sadly. So, this was to be the child's fate? There wasn't even the guarantee that this plan would work. It might just kill both the Hokage and his child, and leave the village completely defenseless. But, truth be told, Kakashi couldn't think of any other way to remove the threat of the demon fox. The monster simply could not be killed: the best efforts of the Hidden Leaf Village's best shinobi were fruitless.

With a gargantuan _crash_, an enormous orange toad appeared. The Fourth Hokage had summoned the Chief Toad for the last time. Gamabunta had a huge pipe sticking out of his mouth, with some smoke lazily emanating from it and floating up towards the heavens.

"So, you're really going to go through with this?" he asked the Hokage with his deep, somewhat annoying voice.

"Yes," answered the man. "Kakashi, it's time." He sounded unafraid of what he knew was coming. He knew what had to be done, if the village was to be saved.

Kakashi brought the Hokage his son, who gently took the boy from his arms. His long robe, decorated with flames, billowed in the wind whenever he walked.

"Don't forget what I told you," he said. "Just like what I told the others. I won't be coming back, so I have to entrust you to enforce my wish."

"What was that, Sensei?"

"That my son is to be looked upon as a hero, even more so than me. He will be the container of the demon, and will kill it along with him when he dies. In that sense, he will be the one who truly rid the world of this monster."

Were there tears in his eyes as he looked down at his son? Kakashi couldn't tell, especially with the dim light that the setting sun gave off. He could, however, see the resemblance that the two shared: the same blond hair, the same blue eyes, and even what looked like the same nose.

"He will need someone to raise him, as well," continued the Fourth. This time, Kakashi was almost positive that he had forced back some tears. "Will you do it?"

"I will, Sensei," promised Kakashi.

"Thank you," said the Hokage. He took one last look at his former pupil, then jumped onto the Chief Toad's back with his son in his arms. He appeared to say something to the toad, which then hopped in the direction where the fox was most likely to be.

In his mind, Kakashi damned the creature that had decided to attack the village, especially at such a prosperous time. The Hyuga clan had just received a new heiress, the head of the Uchiha clan now had a second son, and even the Hokage had just become a father. The village was trying to recover from a previous war, and doing a fine job of it. Why now?

Kakashi felt nothing but misery as he watched Gamabunta hop off towards the setting sun.

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"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Er, what?"

"Do you know anything about the nine-tailed fox?" repeated Hinata.

"Yeah, I do," answered Kakashi reluctantly. Hinata looked excited.

"What is it? Is it real?"

"Uhh, no. It's dead. The Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to kill it." Kakashi wasn't lying, was he? In the sense that the fox would go back to hell or wherever it came from when Naruto died, he wasn't. But when the container of the demon was in his own team, then it was a slightly different matter.

"Oh," said Hinata. "That makes sense."

"How do you know about the fox?" Kakashi asked her.

"I had a dream about it," Hinata answered.

"You dreamed about it? What did it look like, exactly?"

"It had nine tails, and it was made of fire. Actually, I think it was a demon or something."

"No one has ever told you about this demon fox?"

"No, Sensei," said Hinata "No one."

"Hinata, the fox is supposed to be a secret," he told her. What was he supposed to do? The Third had made a decree against talking about the demon fox, but that decree didn't encompass young kunoichi having dreams about it. "Promise me that you won't tell anyone about it, not even Naruto or Sakura."

"I promise, Sensei," she swore, looking up at him.

_I will, Sensei._

"Good, good…" said Kakashi, putting a gloved hand on his face. "Go and… go and see how Naruto's doing."

"Yes," said Hinata, and hurried off.

"Look, Sensei!" called out Sakura. "I think I'm doing it!"

Kakashi turned back to look at her. She ecstatically held up one of her hands, which was glowing green with chakra. Dimly, Kakashi realized that it was amazing, that she was far too young to master something as advanced as medical ninjutsu. But she was doing it, and here he was, not even caring at all.

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_Come on, Hinata's already done it! I need to do it, too!_

Angrily, Naruto charged the tree again, ran up several feet, then fell off almost before he could mark his spot with his kunai.

"Why isn't this getting any easier?!" he yelled at the uncaring tree.

"Naruto… umm, maybe you should try to relax before you try again."

"Hinata!" he cried out, turning around to look at her. "When did you get here?" He felt his face turn red: how much of his outburst had she seen?

Her own face was red, as if embarrassed about even having to talk to him. She had been terrible about talking to him at the very beginning of their team's formation, but she was gradually getting better about it.

"Kakashi-sensei sent me here to help you," Hinata answered "I mean, you know, maybe… you're trying too hard. If you're stressed out or distracted, you can't manipulate your chakra correctly, so maybe you should… relax."

Why did she seem so reluctant to give him some simple advice? Was she just uncomfortable about being around him after she had cried all over him the day before?

"Right," replied Naruto. "Thanks." He tried relaxing for a couple of minutes before trying again. Finally, after he felt he was calm enough, he tried focusing his chakra once more, as Hinata looked on. He charged the tree once more, focusing with all of his mind on climbing the tree.

_The sun's at high noon right now_, he thought. _It's straight up. I have to run straight up, too… Towards the sun._

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**Quote of the Day:**

"You never really 'lose' your parents. Unless of course they die. Then they're gone forever. And nothing will bring them back."

- Strangers With Candy


	8. Real Hero

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 8: Real Hero_

Sakura was enthralled by her new healing abilities. She would sometimes even give herself a paper cut on purpose just so she could amaze herself by healing it. However, her skills weren't refined enough to completely heal her stomach wound, which she could barely even affect. Kakashi told her that she should be happy enough with her progress as it was, since medical ninjutsu was something that almost no Chunin, let alone beginning Genin, could practice.

He also warned her to not get overzealous with healing herself; if something went wrong with the way she manipulated her chakra, she could wind up seriously hurting herself. He explained to her that many medic-nin used a perverse form of their healing abilities as a weapon, such as cutting enemies open and severing vital veins and arteries to cause massive internal bleeding. He warned her that she was just as likely to kill herself as heal herself if she went overboard with experimenting.

So, on top of not being skilled enough to completely heal her cut, she could only risk using small amounts of chakra each time she tried. Whenever Naruto took a break from trying to climb up his tree, he watched her heal various injuries with amazement. She couldn't help but feel a little flattered at his attention: it was a great ability to know, after all. He would also ask her from time to time to heal the many cuts and scrapes he received from falling down during tree-climbing, which she would do with barely concealed enthusiasm.

They had to do it whenever Kakashi was resting and not walking around, though, or else he would catch them and probably give her a stern reprimand. It made it feel like they were doing something scandalous or indecent, which Sakura found to be somehow exciting.

If Hinata seemed jealous of her new abilities, then that was her own problem. It struck Sakura as slightly odd, though. Hinata had never seemed the jealous type. But then again, she was used to being in competition with that pig Ino, who was far more overt about her emotions. Hinata was the quiet type, the type you had to look out for. If she was anything like Ino, she would be begging Kakashi for medical ninjutsu training soon. Exactly what the Hyuga would want to be competing against Sakura for wasn't something she thought about. She was simply too used to competition to bother questioning it, even if it wasn't necessarily there.

Because of her body's natural healing ability, along with a little bit of help from her medical ninjutsu, she was out of bed and walking around more and more often. However, Tsunami still applied creams and lotions to her cut and she still had bandages wrapped around her waist. She had finally shed her torn shirt in favor of one Tsunami gave her, which was a similar shade of pink but ended at the waist level and had longer sleeves. It was snug and comfortable, but it didn't have the designs on the sleeves and on the back that she loved so much. She'd just have to get another one back at Konoha. Her damaged one was now folded up and stowed in her backpack; if nothing else, it still held sentimental value.

Inari still strutted around the house with an attitude, annoying the hell out of Naruto, and though she would never admit it, Sakura, too. Both Kakashi and Hinata seemed perfectly capable of tuning him out, something she coveted.

All was fine for a day or two; Naruto was still trying to climb all the way to the top of the tree, Hinata stayed with Tazuna at the bridge construction site, and Sakura and Kakashi were recovering fine at Tazuna's house. But something she had noticed hadn't quit bugging her: what appeared to be a family portrait hanging on the wall had an entire corner torn off. It looked like someone had been in that corner, too: a man's arms and torso were still partially visible. So she decided to ask about it, while Tazuna's entire family and Team 7 was eating dinner so at least someone would know.

"Why is that picture torn?" she asked out loud, pointing at it from her seat. "It looks like someone's entire face is missing. Is that deliberate?"

An uncomfortable silence followed, and Sakura felt her face turn red. Had she crossed some sort of boundary by asking? Tsunami spoke up from her place at the sink.

"… It was a picture of my husband, Inari's father."

"This land once called him a hero," said Tazuna sadly.

Inari slid his chair away from the table and got up.

"Inari, where are you going?" asked his mother.

He wordlessly left the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Inari!" called out Tsunami worriedly. She hurried after him. "Father! I've told you to not talk about him that way in front of my son!" she yelled out at Tazuna as she left the room.

"I have a feeling that there's a story behind all of this…" muttered Kakashi.

"The man in the picture… was not Inari's birth father," explained Tazuna. "But they were as close as any father and son could ever be. Inari was a very happy child back then. But he changed… after what happened to his father." To the Genin's amazement, he removed his glasses to wipe away tears gathering in his eyes. None of them had ever seen the mean old man crying before.

"Everyone was affected by what happened that day," he continued, "but no one more than little Inari."

"What happened?" asked Kakashi.

"Perhaps I should start at the beginning," said Tazuna, replacing his glasses. "It was about three years ago when Inari and the man first met. A few kids who wanted his dog were bullying him… I'm still not sure what exactly happened, but they wound up throwing his dog into the water, and pushed him in, too. The dog swam to shore… but Inari wasn't so lucky. He didn't know how to swim, and the group of boys essentially left him for dead. Inari was very lucky that day; Kaiza, a fisherman from another land, happened to see his predicament and pulled him out of the water, saving his life. Coincidentally, he also gave a stern talk to the boys who were bullying him, but that's another story. Inari and Kaiza quickly grew very close; Inari even started wearing a rope around his forehead like his new role model. Kaiza became part of the family, first figuratively, then literally when my daughter remarried to him.

"Kaiza taught Inari to defend what he loved with both his arms. And he was no hypocrite. When a dangerous flood threatened to wipe out a part of the city, he risked his life to tie a rope around the barrier on the other side of the torrent to create a makeshift dam and stop the water. People here started calling him a hero. With a father like that, Inari had the right to hold his head up high… And that's when Gato came to town."

"And the incident that you've alluded to took place…" Said Kakashi. "What happened?"

Tazuna remained silent for a moment before he began talking again.

"Kaiza was the only one to act against Gato. It took Gato's whole gang of thugs just to take down one man… But down he went. Gato had him crucified in front of the entire city, calling him a terrorist and a disturber of the peace. Kaiza was executed right in front of Inari by one of Gato's personal samurai guards. The poor boy's never been the same. The whole town's never been the same…" He sighed sadly. They could all see now why the construction of the bridge was so vital to the city.

Naruto got up from his seat, and fell flat on his face.

"Don't even think about more training today," warned Kakashi. "You're exhausted. You could kill yourself." Naruto climbed to his feet and headed for the door.

"Naruto…" said Hinata, worry in her voice.

"I'm going to prove him wrong!" said Naruto determinedly. "I'm going to show Inari that there is such a thing as a hero!"

Kakashi sighed, and Hinata seemed frantic. Sakura, however, didn't care. With luck, he would wind up needing some wounds healed when he got back.

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It was the sixth morning since Team 7's fight with Zabuza. Naruto was nowhere to be found; he had been training like crazy ever since Tazuna had told his story. Hinata was just finishing her breakfast as Sakura walked in, yawning.

"So, Naruto was out all night again, was he?" asked Tazuna from his seat.

"Ever since you told us that story," said Sakura, rubbing her eyes, "he's been training non-stop. He's crazy. He might be lying out there dead somewhere for all we know."

Hinata gasped at the thought. Could he really have killed himself?

"Well, I hope he's all right," said Tsunami, walking in with her plate. Inari remained silent at his place.

"Relax," said Kakashi. "Naruto's a goofy kid, but he's also a full-fledged ninja. He can take care of himself."

"But what if… if he's really dead?" asked Hinata, horrified. Kakashi sighed, exasperated.

"Like I said, relax. He's fine."

Hinata looked around at the people sitting at the table. None of them seemed willing to actually get up and look for the missing ninja. Even Sakura, his teammate, was looking at a bruise on her arm, her fingers glowed green as she prepared to heal it.

"I'm going to go look for him," said Hinata, getting up.

"I don't think that's necessary, Hinata…" said Kakashi. She ignored her sensei and headed for the door. As she closed the door behind her, she suddenly heard Sakura shriek in pain; apparently, her ninjutsu had gone wrong, and she had created a nasty gash in her arm instead of healing her bruise.

"Dammit, Sakura!" yelled Kakashi as Hinata left the house. "What did I tell you?"

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Naruto felt himself being shaken awake, and heard a strange voice.

"… A cold if you sleep here. Wake up."

He sleepily sat up, remembering that he was in the middle of the forest. His back ached from sleeping on the hard ground, and the hand holding his kunai felt stiff.

"Who the heck are you?" he asked groggily. He suddenly saw the person who had woken him up: a very pretty girl wearing a sleeveless pink kimono. She had dark hair and brown eyes. Naruto blushed and stammered. "Oh, uh, I mean, hi there! Where did you come from? You know, what are you doing out here and all that?" As he struggled to not make a complete idiot out of himself, he looked at the girl carefully. She was even prettier than Sakura! But, prettier than Hinata… Not in a million years.

"I'm gathering herbs," she replied.

"Herbs?" asked Naruto, confused. Who got up so early in the morning to collect herbs? His mind was still trying to completely wake up, but even he knew that that was an absurd pastime.

"Yes, that's right," said the girl. "They're for treating illnesses and healing wounds."

Naruto got up and helped her collect herbs, and they remained in silence for several minutes.

"You start work early, huh sis?" Naruto asked the strange girl.

"I like it early," explained the girl. "It's calm. But I didn't think that I'd find anybody sleeping out here in the middle of the woods." Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm training!" he stated.

"So, are you a ninja?" she asked. "I noticed that headband you're wearing. Or are you just making a fashion statement?"

"You noticed it?" asked Naruto excitedly, jabbing his thumb at his forehead protector. "Only super cool ninja can wear these!"

"Oh, really? I see. That's very impressive."

Naruto laughed again. It was too bad that Sakura didn't get so easily impressed.

"But, does that mean you're training for something dangerous?" asked the girl.

"I'm just developing my skills so I can get stronger," Naruto admitted. Climbing trees wasn't exactly training for something dangerous.

"You seem to be very strong now," she said. "Isn't that enough?"

"No, no!" exclaimed Naruto. "I have to get stronger and stronger, I need to keep practicing!"

"Why is getting stronger so important?" she asked curiously.

"So I can become the best ninja in my village, and everyone will know who I am and they'll all respect me!" Naruto never tired of telling other people his dream. "And, I guess, there's someone I want to impress, too…" he added as a side note. He knew that the chances of impressing Sakura with the ability to climb trees was slim, since she knew how to heal wounds, which truly was something amazing.

"So, are you doing it for this certain person, or are you doing it all for yourself?"

"Huh?" Naruto didn't get the question. The girl laughed. "What are you laughing about?" he asked angrily. "What's so funny?"

"Is there… someone who's precious to you?"

"Someone who… What are you saying, sis?" asked Naruto, confused. "What do you mean, 'precious?'"

The girl got a far away look in her eyes for a moment, like she was suddenly remembering something. "You see," she said, "when a person has something that they want to protect, then they become genuinely strong."

Naruto thought of everyone that he felt was precious to him. Iruka, Konohamaru, Sakura, and even Hinata. He knew that if any of them were ever in danger, he would do everything in his power to protect and save them.

"Yeah, I hear you," he slowly said. "I know exactly what you're saying!"

The girl smiled at him, then stood up and picked up her basket full of herbs. "You will get strong," she assured him. "Very strong. Goodbye. We'll meet again sometime." She began walking down the dirt path, leaving Naruto sitting where he was. "Oh," she suddenly said. "By the way, I'm a boy."

Naruto had never been more astonished.

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Hinata found Naruto sitting down in the middle of the forest, a dumbfounded look on his face. When she saw him, she could barely restrain herself from running up to him and throwing her arms around him. The possibility that he was dead had been very frightening to her. However, she should have realized that Kakashi was right, Naruto could handle himself. She felt ashamed of herself for not having more faith in him.

"Naruto, where have you been?" she asked him. It was a stupid question; obviously, he had been right where he was sitting at that moment. He still looked unresponsive, staring straight ahead without blinking. "Naruto, are you alright?" No answer.

She slowly reached out with her hand towards his face. In a moment of temporary insanity, she decided to indulge herself; she cupped his cheek in her hand. She felt her face turn crimson. Why was she doing this? His cheek felt soft and warm. Without even thinking about it, her thumb traced the path of one of the whisker marks on his face. The tickle it created must have snapped him out of his strange state. He suddenly looked up at her and reached out, wrapping his fingers around her wrist.

Hinata let out a small scream in surprise, wrenching her wrist out of Naruto's grasp and taking a few steps back before tripping on a root and landing on her butt.

"Hinata?" Naruto asked in a daze.

"Naruto? Er, umm, what were you staring at a few seconds ago?" She could feel her face burning, and she wished it would stop. Why had she touched him like that? Why?

"I… that girl… was a guy… he, her, it, or whatever…" He wasn't making any sense, and he trailed off. Whatever had just happened, apparently he hadn't fully realized exactly what Hinata had been doing.

"I, well, that's fascinating. What do you say we get back to Tazuna's house now?"

"No," said Naruto slowly. Then he said it again louder. "No. I need to train. I need to finish climbing this tree. I'm almost to the top by now, I'm too close to just quit now."

"But Naruto, it won't be quitting," objected Hinata. She was beginning to recover by now. "You need some breakfast in you before you try scaling this tree again."

"Sorry, Hinata," he said, getting up. "I just… Do you think you could help me?"

"What?" Hinata was still on the ground, and was looking up at Naruto now.

"Could you, you know, walk me through it? You're great at this, right?"

_Great? No one's ever said I was great at anything…_

"I, I guess so," she said reluctantly, getting up.

"Hinata, you're the greatest!" said Naruto happily, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. For a second, she thought that she was about to faint.

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"Can I ask you something?" Tazuna asked. He, along with Sakura (who was now wearing a bandage on her arm), was sitting on top of Kakashi's back as the Jonin did push-ups with one index finger.

"What?"

"You know I tricked you to get you to come here. You even got one of your pupils seriously injured. So why did you stay?"

"Because evil thrives where good men do nothing," Kakashi replied simply. "It would have been irresponsible to leave your land in this condition without even trying to do anything."

Tazuna thought about what Kakashi said as the Jonin stopped doing his push-ups.

_I'm almost back to full strength now. Zabuza can't be very far behind…_

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Zabuza crushed the apple in his hand with almost no effort. The pieces fell to the linoleum floor with a multitude of splattering noises. It felt good to be alive again.

"It seems you're almost completely healed by now," said Haku from behind him. The boy had only barely come back from the woods with a basket of herbs for him to eat, which helped enormously with the healing process.

"Excellent… Let's get going Haku." It was time to kill the bridge builder once and for all. He would then collect his pay from Gato, then kill him, too. Then, he could return to the Mist Village, and take what was rightfully his.

"Certainly."

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Naruto stumbled into the house, leaning against Hinata. It was close to midnight, and he looked exhausted. However, they both had smiles on their faces.

"So, you're finally back!" said Tazuna.

"I finally did it…" Naruto croaked out. "I made it to the top of the tree."

"He really did it, Kakashi-sensei!" confirmed Hinata. She looked ecstatic at this turn of events, as if Naruto's victories were also her own… the way a good teammate should.

"Excellent," said Kakashi. "Tomorrow, you can both go with Tazuna to oversee the construction of the bridge."

"Yes, sir!" they said in unison.

"Whew, I'm all worn out from working on the bridge today,' said Tazuna. "But construction is almost complete!"

"Father, you and Naruto are two of a kind," said Tsunami. "I hope you don't work yourselves to death!"

"What about me, Sensei?" asked Sakura. "I get to go to the bridge too, right?"

"Not you, Sakura," said Kakashi sternly. "You have been abusing your new powers to the extent that they're just plain dangerous. Honestly, you're acting even more immature than Naruto does on his worst days!"

"I… What?" Sakura asked, furious.

Naruto collapsed into a chair as the two bickered back and forth. Inari was in the room, and without warning, he exploded.

"You're all a bunch of idiots!" he screamed. "You can train all you want, but you're still no match for Gato's thugs! You might act all cool , and talk all tough, but you can never win!"

The entire room was silent for a moment; everyone was shocked by his outburst

"Yeah, it takes a real man to just sit at home crying over everything, and not lift a finger to help," said Naruto in a low voice, which was dripping with sarcasm and trembling with rage. "Well, I've had it with your crap! If you're too much of a baby to do anything, then just shut up and let us real heroes do all the work!"

Glaring at each other, the two got up from the table and left the room in opposite directions.

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura angrily. "You went too far this time!"

"Piss off, Sakura," he said angrily, and left. She gasped; he had never talked to her like that before. In fact, he had been treating her like a queen all week. Kakashi sighed and got up from the table. What was getting into kids these days? He followed Inari outside, where they had a great view of the ocean as the moon reflected off of the waves. Unknown to either of them, it was the exact same spot that Naruto and Hinata had been sitting their first day at Tazuna's house.

"Mind if I join you?" he asked. He sat next to Inari down without waiting for an answer. "You know, Naruto's kind of a brat, but he wasn't really trying to be mean or hateful. He just… doesn't really have a silver tongue, I guess. He grew up without a father, same as you."

Inari looked up at this bit of information. He hadn't known that he had shared anything in common with the blond ninja.

"He grew up without any family, in fact," continued Kakashi. "He doesn't know any members of his family, and he has no memory of them. His whole life is just one giant, painful memory." Kakashi forced himself to not think about how Naruto not knowing who his family members were was primarily his fault. He had made himself forget about the promise he had made to his sensei, and Hinata had to just go and force him to remember.

"And in all the time I've known him, he's never once cried about it. He never uses his miserable past as an excuse to sulk. He always tried his hardest, hoping that someone will give him recognition or praise. That's his dream, and he's willing to risk his life for it. My guess is that one day… he just got sick of crying. He knows what it means to be truly strong, just like your father did. Naruto probably can relate to you better than anyone else."

"What?" Inari couldn't believe what he had just heard. Could Naruto really know what it felt like?

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"Well, make sure Sakura stays out of trouble," said Kakashi to Tsunami. He, Tazuna, Naruto, and Hinata were all set to head out for the bridge. "She hasn't fully healed yet, so make sure that she doesn't try and heal herself. She could kill herself if she does."

"Just leave it to me," said Tsunami.

Team 7, minus Sakura, set out for the bridge.

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"Are you ready to attack?" squawked the walkie-talkie. It was Gato. "Zabuza, are you there? Pay attention!"

Zabuza crushed the device with his foot, and Gato's voice disappeared.

"Time to end things, Haku," he said.

"Of course," agreed the boy.

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Team 7 arrived at the bridge in no time. It looked like it was going to be a nice day, with a little bit of cloud cover, but no chance of rain. It was that perfect time of year where it wasn't snowing or sweltering hot.

"What the hell?" Tazuna's voice rang out.

All of the construction workers for the bridge were on the ground, unconscious or dying. Kakashi approached one near him, as his two Genin immediately stood at Tazuna's side in defense of the architect.

"Who did this?" he asked the worker.

"M-monsters…" the man groaned out. Kakashi suddenly noticed the mist. It was spreading and getting thicker.

"Kakashi-sensei!" called out Naruto. "They're back!"

_I was right after all, he's survived_, thought Kakashi. He hurried over to his two Genin to help in defending Tazuna. _Time to end this once and for all._

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Tsunami was standing at the sink doing dishes. She could hear Sakura upstairs, pouting about having to stay at the house. While she felt bad for the girl, she agreed whole-heartedly with her sensei. She needed to learn to follow his instructions and not use such a potentially dangerous power. And besides, she wasn't even completely healed from her chain injury. It really was for the best that she stay here. It would probably be boring having to stay at the bridge for the entire day, anyway.

She heard footsteps behind her. Was it Inari? He certainly moved fast; the last time she had checked, he was still upstairs. She turned around.

It wasn't Inari she had heard. It was a menacing looking man wielding a katana with a smirk on his face. Her mouth jaw in terror. Gato's thugs had found them.

"Tazuna's daughter, right?" asked the samurai, smiling. "You're coming with us."

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Imagine waking up to radio reports that said, 'Schools and businesses have been closed because of frozen pizza.' Sounds ridiculous, but if all the frozen pizza sold in the United States each year was spread across six states, those radio reports could be true."

- opening paragraph of press release from the National Frozen Pizza Institute


	9. Someone Precious

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 9: Someone Precious_

Inari heard a loud crash from downstairs as he washed his hands. What was that? Had his mother fallen down? He hurried down and ran for the kitchen. He slid open the door and saw his mother thrown onto the ground, as two men with swords stood over her.

"Mama!" he cried out. Gato's men had come here and taken his mother. What was he supposed to do?

"What do you want, brat?" snarled one of the men. He was the larger of the two, and was shirtless and wore an eyepatch.

"Inari, run!" screamed his mother. "Get out of here!"

"Should we take him with us?" asked the shirtless man.

"We only need one hostage," said the smaller one. "We can just get rid of him."

"Well, too bad for him," said the first man, baring his teeth in a fearsome grin. He grabbed the hilt of his sword. Inari felt his blood run cold. They were going to kill him?

"Don't touch him!" screamed Inari's mother. "If you lay a single finger on him, I'll kill myself! Then where will you get a hostage?"

The large man sheathed his sword with a disappointed grunt, and the smaller one let out a chuckle. They went for his mother, and began tying her up with a strand of rope. She didn't resist, and the larger man kept on whispering vulgarities into her ear while the smaller one smirked.

_I'm sorry…_ thought Inari, crying. _I'm not strong enough to help… I really am just a weak little crybaby!_

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up in shock, only to see Sakura standing above him. She knew what was happening in the kitchen; she pressed a finger to her lips, signaling Inari to not let her presence be known. She had a hard look in her eyes, as if she were about to fight. But she couldn't fight! She was injured, and even in the best of circumstances, those men would break her like a twig! Inari dumbly nodded his head at her signal, though. Maybe she had a plan. She had to know better than to just run in there.

Sakura nodded her head back at him, and released his shoulder. Leaving him where he was standing, she then reached into her weapons pouch, which she had brought with her. Instead of pulling out handfuls of kunais and shurikens as he had hoped she would, she only pulled out a single kunai. She balanced it on the palm of her hand, then grabbed it by the handle and moved into the doorway. Inari had a perfect view of what she was doing, and figured that she was crazy and going to get herself killed. But she wasn't _really_ like Naruto, was she? She would think things through before just rushing headfirst into a dangerous situation, right? He certainly hoped so.

Sakura threw the kunai with great accuracy. It flew through the air, and sliced the rope binding Tsunami. She looked astonished as it fell to the floor, and it took the two men about to take her away a second to react.

"What the hell?" said the large man; the smaller one wielded his sword and turned to the doorway. They both saw Sakura at the same time, and Tsunami took that opportunity to jump on top of the smaller man, trying to take his sword.

Sakura then grabbed another kunai and ran at the man with the eyepatch before he could help his comrade. Inari couldn't help but think that Sakura was coming up with what to do next as she went along. Maybe she really hadn't had a plan…

The man saw her too early, though. He backhanded the kunoichi just as she reached him. She fell with a cry, and her kunai skittered across the floor. Tsunami was still wrestling with the other samurai; she appeared to have suddenly achieved an inhuman strength. The large man walked over to Sakura, who was struggling to climb to her feet, and grabbed her across the waist, lifting her up so that her face was level with his.

"It looks like I get to kill someone after all!" he said in what, sickeningly, was genuine happiness. He laughed as Sakura struggled against his grip, and squeezed her tighter. She furiously punched at his face, clawing wildly. Her efforts only seemed to amuse him further; it didn't even look like she was having any effect on her.

Sakura suddenly stopped punching blindly at whatever she could reach, and started concentrating on something in between each punch. She would punch, pull her fist back, concentrate on something, and then punch again. His grin slipped slightly, replaced by a look of puzzlement. What on earth was she doing?

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Sakura remembered one particular day back at the Ninja Academy with stunning clarity. She had been sitting in the front row; she remembered because Sasuke was only a couple of seats down, and she had kept on trying to get his attention whenever Iruka wasn't looking. She had gotten annoyed when Sasuke completely ignored her, and had resigned herself to listening to Iruka.

"… So you see class, even people without massive chakra reserves can achieve amazing things, when they have excellent chakra control."

What? What was amazing? Would it impress Sasuke? Even if she had to sit up all night working on chakra control, then she'd do it. Anything for Sasuke!

"Like what, Sensei?" she asked Iruka from her seat. "What amazing things can people do when they have excellent chakra control?"

"Well, take the Legendary Sannin, Tsunade, for example," said Iruka. "She wasn't known for having an incredible amount of chakra, but she made up for that by having great control over what chakra she had."

"What could she do?"

"Well, by building up and releasing her chakra with precise timing, she could effectively achieve super strength, and be able to destroy walls and boulders just by punching them. Eventually, after repeated use, it became instinctive for her, and she could do this without any effort on her part. A person with much higher chakra reserves could potentially blow up walls and other obstacles with powerful jutsus, but they would be wasting much more chakra and waste more time by forming hand signs. Tsunade bypassed all of this, which is what really sets her apart."

"Wow!" exclaimed Sakura, amazed. "Where is Tsunade now?"

"Well… nobody knows," said Iruka, looking uncomfortable. "She left the Leaf Village a while ago with an assistant to follow her around, and disappeared. She took her abilities with her, too. Nobody really knows how to recreate her amazing powers."

"Oh…" Sakura was disappointed. So much for impressing Sasuke…

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At that moment, in that thug's arms, Sakura didn't care much about impressing anybody. Sasuke and Tsunade could both go to hell, as far as she was concerned. Now, all she was trying to do was save her own life.

_Build up your chakra_, she thought, preparing to punch the man. She concentrated all of her chakra into her fist. She then punched him again. _Release it all… now!_ Her fist collided with the man's face and bounced off. It was no use. He was grinning as he squeezed her tighter and tighter. It was now difficult to breathe. She could feel her strength leaving her, and her vision was going dark. She felt an impulse to think about something else, anything else, but she refused to give in and let her life flash before her eyes. If she did, then it really would be over.

_One more time…_ she thought sluggishly. _Just… one more… goddamn… time…_ She pulled her fist back once more. She concentrated with all of her being into focusing all of her chakra into her fist, knowing that she would die if she failed. She swung at the man's face as hard as she could. _Release it… NOW!_

Her fist connected with his face; something felt wet. The man let out a strangled cry and released her. She fell to the floor, dazed. Had it worked? She did her best to scramble up; when that man got up again, he would probably just try and cut her in half with his sword.

Her vision cleared, and she saw the shirtless man lying on the ground, spread eagle and not moving. She shambled over to him and took a closer look at him; when she saw his face, she felt like throwing up. It looked like his entire face had caved in. Blood and bone fragments were everywhere, and some gray brain matter was splattered all over. The smell of fresh blood was nauseating, and her stomach heaved. She had succeeded in recreating Tsunade's legendary ability, and wished that she hadn't. The result was too disgusting.

She suddenly remembered that Tsunami was fighting for her life, too. And she wasn't faring too well. She was lying on the ground, her face a bloody mess, as the man wearing a jacket stood over her, sword raised. He had a long claw mark across his face and one of his eyes had gone puffy.

"Forget it, then, bitch," he snarled. "I'll just kill you and take your kid instead!" He raised his sword, preparing to bring it down on Tsunami; the woman was still struggling to get up. Sakura could barely remember moving; the next thing she knew, she had rammed her shoulder into the samurai, throwing him off balance. He fell to the floor with a yell and dropped his sword.

Sakura jumped onto him, cursing and punching at everything she could reach. She hadn't realized that his sword was within his reach, though. He twisted underneath her and grabbed it, then swung it wildly at her. It was heading straight for her neck and was unavoidable; if she ducked, then it would cleave off the top of her skull. Without thinking, she again concentrated her chakra in her hand, remembering Kakashi's warning, along with the wound she had given herself on her arm. The speed in which she gathered up the necessary chakra astonished her, but there was only time to act, not ponder over strange things.

Her hand glowed green with chakra, and she thrust it into the samurai's stomach. She had deliberately intended the chakra to have an evil purpose, but as far as she knew, the chance was fifty-fifty that it would actually hurt the man.

The sword never reached her. Instead all she heard was a shriek of agony coming from the man underneath her, as her hand tore into anything in its path, plunging into warm flesh and organs and ripping them apart. The sword in his hand fell to the floor with a clatter, and his hand hung limply in the air, fingers twitching. Blood was pouring out of his mouth as he whimpered, looking up at the ceiling. Before long, his eyes got a glazed look to them, and he stopped moving.

Sakura's hand felt warm; she realized with revulsion that it was still inside of the samurai's stomach. She pulled it out, shutting her eyes and turning her face to look in another direction. It was simply too disgusting to look at, knowing that she had killed two people with it. Moving unsteadily, she climbed off the dead body, then leaned over and vomited.

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"It's been a while, Kakashi…" murmured Zabuza's voice from the mist. "And I see you've got those brats tagging along, as usual. Well, time to end this nonsense…"

A group of water clones materialized from out of the mist, circling the ninja. They were about to strike; Kakashi quickly drew two kunais and mowed them all down in a rapid sweeping motion. He didn't need Hinata's Byakugan to tell him the obvious: the more clones there were, the weaker each one would be. Zabuza had to distribute his chakra among them evenly, and he wouldn't risk exhausting himself so early in the fight.

Naruto and Hinata looked astonished at the speed in which Kakashi had dispatched the clones. They had no idea that they probably could have done the same thing, but Kakashi had no time to explain that to them.

"Well, it looks like my water clones were no match for you!" said Zabuza in mock admiration. "It looks like he'll be a worthy opponent, eh Haku?"

"Indeed he does," answered Haku. It was the shinobi hunter from before, just as Kakashi had predicted. Now, he had shed his guise of being out to hunt Zabuza, and was openly in league with the rogue ninja.

"Looks like I was right," he said out loud.

Hinata was looking at Zabuza in terror; no matter what Kakashi had said, the idea of actually having to fight him was frightening. She had seen everything he had been able to do in their previous battle. And if he had a friend with him, how would Kakashi's Sharingan handle it? She wasn't very familiar with the bloodline limit, she just knew a few basic facts.

Naruto, however, was looking at the shinobi hunter furiously, as if the ninja had personally stabbed him in the back. It looked like he was about to just run at him and take him on, regardless of the fact that Zabuza was in the way and the shinobi hunter was ANBU-trained. Fortunately, he remained at Tazuna's side, though he still looked like he was ready to break and run at them at any moment.

_It looks like I'm a bit understaffed here…_ thought Kakashi. _Worst case scenario, that Haku kid is powerful enough to kill me. And I still have to deal with Zabuza. It would be best if Naruto and Hinata took Haku on together, but that would leave no one to defend Tazuna, and it would be too risky to just leave him and hope for the best…_

Kakashi knew all about taking chances. It was something that he did almost every mission. Taking _stupid_ chances, however, was an entirely different matter.

"That Haku girl is mine," snarled Naruto, a kunai held tightly in his fist. "You might have fooled us before, but now we know what you can do!" he yelled at the ninja.

Zabuza smiled underneath his mask. "Why don't you shut him up, Haku?"

"Of course." Haku disappeared in a whirlwind. Naruto, however, actually seemed to have anticipated this. The shinobi hunter spun like a top towards them, creating a tornado of wind as he did so. No doubt, it was meant to throw off any planned attack and deflect any thrown objects. As soon as the ninja reappeared in front of him, ready to strike, Naruto lunged first. He struck the shinobi hunter in the face, just as the ninja ran straight into his fist, which augmented the damage delivered. Haku reeled from the blow, dropping the needle in his hand and stumbling backwards for a few steps before he could compose himself.

_Incredible,_ thought Kakashi. _He really has gotten better from the training. I never would have thought him capable of timing his attacks so well._

Naruto charged at the shinobi hunter again, delivering another punch to Haku's face before he could react. It was amazing; Naruto had actually pushed a ninja of much greater ability off balance, and was pressing his advantage for all it was worth. All of the training in the world couldn't make someone do that instinctively, just as Naruto was doing now. Hinata, using her Byakugan, jumped into the fray without even asking for Kakashi's permission.

Normally, that would be great teamwork, but now no one was left to protect Tazuna as Kakashi fought Zabuza.

"Hinata, wait!" Kakashi called to her, but it was too late. Haku had recovered, and had grabbed hold of both of the Genin's forearms. He spun on his feet, and tossed them in opposite directions, with Naruto landing on one side of the bridge and Hinata on the other. But more importantly, Haku was now standing in between them and Kakashi, preventing them from returning to Tazuna's side. They were at the mercy of Zabuza now; he could step in and kill them if he wanted to.

However, he seemed to decide that Kakashi was the most important target. He was right. All he would have to do was to kill the Jonin, then take out the bridge builder. Besides, Haku looked powerful enough to take on two Genin by himself. Naruto and Hinata got back up and attacked the shinobi hunter once more. Kakashi stood next to the bridge builder, ready to defend him.

_If only I had brought Sakura…_

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"You can keep up with me," said Haku. "That's impressive. But you won't be able to keep it up for long, either of you."

Naruto parried a swiping blow from the ninja, just as Hinata tried to strike Haku from the flank. Haku jumped back to avoid the attack, simultaneously throwing the senbon in her hand at Naruto. He dodged, and it hit him in the shoulder. It penetrated surprisingly deep, but it was too small to cause any great amount of damage. He grimaced and pulled it out, blood dripping off the end.

Hinata didn't lose her balance because her attack had missed. She followed through, charging Haku again. Naruto noticed for the first time the veins around her eyes. Why were they bulging like that? Was it her bloodline limit? Bloodline limit or no, Haku kicked her feet out from under her as she got close enough to her. Before she could hit the ground, the shinobi hunter grabbed her by the collar and yanked her towards her. Her knee jutted out and crashed into Hinata's face. Hinata cried out, and Haku flung her aside like a broken toy. She disappeared in another one of her whirlwinds, appearing next to Naruto.

He tried punching her again, but the same trick didn't work twice. She ducked under his fist and plunged a needle into his ribcage. Naruto tried to quickly hit her in the side of the head with his elbow, while he still had his momentum, but she grabbed his arm and twisted it.

He cried out in pain, but he managed to wriggle his arm back into its right place and he grabbed her forearm before she could throw him like she had done to Hinata. He still had a kunai in his other hand, and her only needle was now stuck inside his ribs. The shinobi hunter had foolishly left herself open, and he was going to make her regret it.

He swung his kunai at her head, determined to kill her before the fight continued much longer. Kakashi needed help, and if he had to kill this bitch to get him that help, then he would do it. She moved faster than his eyes could follow, and ripped her needle back out of his body. He felt an intense pain, but his kunai was still heading straight for her head, carried by momentum. She parried it with the bloody needle, and Naruto was left trying to catch his breath.

"Just as I thought," said Haku. "You can't keep up for long. On top of that, your friend is down, and you're cornered. This fight is over."

"Cornered…?" panted Naruto.

She suddenly began forming seals with one of her hands, the one that he had grabbed the forearm of. Her fingers were still free, something he hadn't bothered to worry about. How was she forming seals with only one hand?!

Water was splashed all over the bridge. Haku stopped in mid-seal, then stomped her foot. The water rose into the air seemingly of its own accord, trapping Naruto and Haku inside of a sphere.

_Cornered…_ thought Naruto wildly. Haku formed one more hand sign, and the water formed into thousands of needles made of ice. _What kind of jutsu is this?!_

The needles stopped hanging in midair and shot at him from all directions. His grip on Haku's forearm slackened, and she took that opportunity to jump away from harm. Those needles would cut him to ribbons unless he moved, and quick.

With mere seconds to react, Naruto concentrated all of his chakra into the soles of his feet and jumped straight up into the air, above the sphere of hurtling needles. He had barely made it. The ice needles all hit the ground, concentrating on the spot he had been standing only a moment ago. Kakashi had been right: these kinds of skills would save his life.

Acting on pure reflex, he reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a handful of shurikens. Haku was still jumping backwards. If she had even noticed that Naruto had survived, she made no sign.

_Let's see if I can lead her off…_ thought Naruto with a grin. He hurled his shurikens at the shinobi hunter with a perfectly coordinated trajectory. Haku was able to jump even farther back to avoid three of them, but the fourth and the fifth caught her in the shoulder and the thigh. He landed on the ground, ready to continue the fight.

Haku stumbled from the shuriken attack, almost completely falling over. With what sounded like a snarl, she tore the shurikens out of her flesh, and tossed them aside. That's when Hinata rejoined the fight. She caught Haku by surprise, attacking the shinobi hunter from behind while she was still focused on Naruto.

Hinata's nose was bloody, but she otherwise appeared to have recovered from her previous beating. She was standing in a fighting stance Naruto had never seen before. Her bloodline limit, whatever it was, was still activated. She hit the shinobi hunter in the back of the neck, blue chakra visible for a second as she made contact. Haku cried out in surprise (and presumably pain), almost tipping over. However, the ninja saved herself, spinning on her feet so that she was now facing Hinata. Hinata kept up the assault, repeatedly striking Haku in various points all across her body. The shinobi hunter could do seemingly little to stop it; each blow she received looked like it sent her into shock, and another one would land on another point of her body before she could react or block.

Naruto grinned to himself: he had never seen a girl-on-girl fight before. And he didn't know that Hinata could actually fight so well. Not well enough to beat him or anything, but she was still pretty good.

"Haku!" Zabuza suddenly shouted. "Enough of your crap! If you go on trying to spare them, you're just gonna get yourself killed! Get rid of them!"

Haku collapsed from Hinata's barrage, but she nonetheless seemed to have heard Zabuza. She leaped up into the air, jumping above and away from Hinata. Naruto rushed over to his friend, ready to finish the fight. What was Zabuza talking about? Haku was about to get herself killed!

"Such a pity," Haku murmured from where she stood. "Now you two will have to deal with my Crystal Ice Mirrors…" Haku seemed to regret the prospect. Was it because she was losing?

_Whatever those Diamond Mirrors or whatever she calls them are, me and Hinata can handle it_, Naruto thought confidently. _Combined, we could probably take on Zabuza if we wanted to!_

Suddenly, the water behind him and Hinata began rising up into the air again, this time with greater speed. The two Genin barely had time to turn around before a mirror, made completely out of ice, had formed behind them. In no time at all, the mirrors had formed all over, forming a sphere and trapping them all within.

"What the hell…" Naruto said in shock.

"You two are powerful, that I cannot deny," Haku said. She took a step back so that she bumped into the mirror behind her. But she didn't bump into it. She stepped _into_ it, the mirror absorbing her like it was a sponge. Instantly, her image appeared in every single one of the ice mirrors. She stared down at them from all angles.

_Which one is the real one?!_ Naruto thought desperately. All of the Haku reflections pulled out a handful of needles, and raised them to their opposite shoulder in preparation to throw them.

"I underestimated you before," they all said in unison. "But now, the fight really _is_ over."

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Sakura sat in a corner of the room, trembling. Inari was sitting next to her, looking at her with what might have been horror or amazement. Tsunami was moving about the house aimlessly, making half-hearted attempts at cleaning up the blood and gore littering the floor and blabbering "thank you's" to Sakura at almost every opportunity. From what she gathered, one of the men she had killed was the one who had executed Kaiza, but she wasn't sure. Inari had been there to see it, he would know. But he wasn't talking, just looking at her.

Sakura looked at her hands in some wild mix between horror and disgust. They were scrubbed clean now, with all sorts of soaps and cleaning agents. She had cleaned her hands in a frenzy, not just eager, but desperate, to get every speck of blood off of them. It had helped… for a little while. Now she couldn't get her mind off the fact that she was a killer, a murderer. And she hadn't killed them in a sterile, painless way, one she might have had a chance to get over. She had crushed a man's face and torn apart the stomach of another… with her bare hands.

In her mind's eye, she could still see the man underneath her, struggling to breathe, the life slipping away from him. The way his eyes suddenly became glassy, wide open but seeing nothing, was a vision that would likely haunt her dreams.

Inari suddenly reached out and touched her shoulder, and she slowly turned to look at him. There was a concerned look on the boy's face. He didn't look at her like she was a freak or a killer, but like she was a normal person.

"If you're really upset about killing those guys, you shouldn't be," Inari said. "They weren't worth worrying about. They were just the bad guys, after all."

Part of Sakura found what he said reassuring. The other part thought that he was too young to know what he was talking about. But she realized that Inari would know what he was talking about. He had lost his father hadn't he? He was the one who had to live under Gato and his rule, not her. If anyone knew who really deserved to live and die in this situation, it would probably be him.

"Th-Thank you, Inari," Sakura said. But she couldn't help but think that if the good guys went around killing all the bad guys, then the dividing line between good and evil wouldn't be so clear anymore.

What would Naruto have done in her situation? He probably would have just beaten up the men or something, not killed them. She sighed out loud. He was such a good person…

"Naruto," she suddenly said out loud, making Inari look up at her curiously. If those two men had come here, then that probably meant that Tazuna would be under attack. Team 7 was in danger.

"Sakura?" Inari asked curiously. She looked down at him.

"Naruto, and the rest of my team, they're out there, probably fighting," she told him. "I need to go help."

Inari looked down sadly. "He was right…" he muttered sadly.

"Right about what?" asked Sakura, confused. She couldn't remember a time when Naruto had been right about anything.

"I'm just a baby. I couldn't even make myself stand up when those guys came to take my mom away. And you came and, and…" He broke down and began sobbing. "You ninjas really are the heroes," he managed to say.

"It's okay…" said Sakura. "You don't need to cry." How was a person supposed to handle this? Calming down Inari would be Tsunami's job, not her's. She decided to try anyway, knowing full well that she couldn't simply leave him there. She patted him on the head. "You're not weak, Inari. You're not a baby, either. You just were freaked out, that's all. I think that you could be strong someday if you really wanted to."

Inari wiped his eyes and looked up at her again. "D-Do you r-really think so?" he asked, sniffling. She smiled down at him.

"I know you will," she assured him. "I think even Naruto would agree."

He looked down at his feet. "Thanks…"

"Do you think you can hold the fort here while I'm gone?" she asked him. He looked back up at her and nodded, managing a small smile. Sakura patted him on the head again, and got up to leave. She felt uneasy about leaving just like that; what if more of Gato's men showed up? Reluctantly, she pushed those worries to the back of her mind and hurried off towards the bridge.

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"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto cried out for what felt like the hundredth time. A dozen of his shadow clones appeared, and they all leaped towards the mirrors, trying to destroy them. And for what seemed like the hundredth time, they were all taken out in a puff of smoke in the blink of an eye as the shinobi hunter destroyed them.

Naruto had been stabbed with needles all over his body, repeatedly knocked down whenever he tried to punch and break a mirror. Hinata wasn't doing much better.

"The jutsu I'm using is part of the art of teleportation," said Haku and her reflections. "I move so quickly, the two of you might as well be standing still."

Hinata was using her bloodline limit. She knew exactly which mirror the real Haku was in. She had proved it before, directing Naruto to concentrate on one of the mirrors. However, it made no difference. Haku destroyed all of the shadow clones each time without seeming to exert any effort, and would also strike Hinata, as if to teach her a lesson.

She now had stab wounds all over her body, and many bloody needles lay at her feet. For that matter, there were bloody needles all over the ground by now. It seemed to be a miracle that neither of them had died from blood loss. What the hell were they going to do?

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Kakashi looked on helplessly as his two Genin were being worn down inside Haku's sphere of mirrors. Zabuza stood between him and the kids, practically daring Kakashi to abandon the bridge builder. Not even his Sharingan could help now. Haku had some sort of bloodline limit, just like Hinata. And whatever that bloodline limit was, his Sharingan couldn't hope to penetrate or mimic it. If he were actually in there, then it would be a different story. But as it was…

Kakashi could see most of the action from where he was standing, though he couldn't hear if they were saying anything. He was too far away. He caught a glimpse of Haku stepping out of his mirror. That was all he was usually able to see before Haku took off at light speed and shot the Genin full of needles. But this time was different.

Hinata saw, or knew the entire time, where the real Haku was. Her hand moved fast, ripping a kunai out of her weapons pouch and hurling it at the ninja before he could fully leave the confines of his mirror. Haku, unfortunately, was better than that. He snatched the kunai out of the air, hanging halfway out of his ice mirror.

And he missed the shuriken thrown at him from the opposite direction. Who had thrown it? Naruto? In that instant, Haku's bloodline limit and all of his skill as a ninja combined wouldn't make any difference. He would either die or it would miss, it was that simple.

The shuriken missed him by an unfathomably small distance; in one sense, it didn't miss him at all, as it sliced up his mask, cutting a gash into it. The surprise threw him off balance, and he toppled out of his ice mirror. It was a tough break for him, too: Naruto performed his Shadow Clone Jutsu at that precise moment, in what was likely intended to be another vain attempt at smashing the mirrors. Haku fell to the ground, and over a dozen Narutos jumped onto him, punching and kicking and just plain beating the life out of the shinobi hunter.

Kakashi looked over to the other side of the bridge, realizing that only one other person could have thrown that shuriken. Sure enough, there stood Sakura, hands on her hips and a wide grin on her face.

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_Press the attack, press the attack, press the attack_, Naruto thought over and over to himself as he pummeled Haku mercilessly. He had stab wounds all over him that made it hard to keep up such a relentless assault, but it only made his resolve to finish the fight even stronger. Who knew when he would get another chance like this? When he was in no condition to even perform his Shadow Clone Jutsu?

Haku was able to fight back, but only barely. Every time she destroyed one of his clones, he just made another one. However, she seemed to not have run out of tricks just yet.

"Enough!" she shouted. She quickly performed a series of one-handed seals, creating another batch of ice needles. This time, though, they went outward like a bomb, not inward and focused on a single target. There must have been hundreds, thousands of needles, flying in all directions. All of his shadow clones were destroyed, and he felt uncountable pricks all along his body as the needles penetrated his skin. He was thrown backwards, and landed on his back. Even as he was climbing to his feet, Haku jumped back into one of her mirrors, and to safety.

_Dammit!_ he thought savagely. Hinata had hurried over to him, making sure that he was okay. She had several ice needles sticking out of her thigh, giving her a limp, but she didn't seem to mind so much. It was only when she had made sure that Naruto was alright that she even noticed them, whereupon she pulled them out individually.

"Naruto," she panted. "Sakura's here! She's the one who threw that shuriken!"

Naruto looked around, as if he were expecting Sakura to be standing inside the sphere of ice mirrors. He realized that that was stupid. She would be outside somewhere, or else he would have seen her jump in (that would have been suicidal, and Sakura generally thought things out instead of running into dangerous situations).

"Well, Sakura might have helped us once, but I don't think she can do it again," Naruto said, groaning as he stood up to his full height. "What do you say Hinata? Ready to go again?"

"If you're here with me… I'll do anything, Naruto," Hinata said. Her voice sounded somber, yet determined.

"Right!" exclaimed Naruto "Because we can do anything! Believe it!" Hinata's eyes met his as he said it. There was a look in them that he had never seen before. It was sort of a happy, peaceful look. He couldn't remember anyone else looking at him like that before, and it confused him. What kind of look was that? He never had time to ponder what emotion Hinata must have been feeling, for Haku's needle attack began once more, putting him in a world of pain.

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The distraction Sakura provided was all the opportunity Kakashi needed. As soon as Zabuza turned his head to see what had happened to Haku, he pulled up his headband to and revealed his Sharingan eye. Zabuza turned back to look at Kakashi and laughed.

"The Sharingan again?" he scoffed. "It seems that the only way you can fight me is by copying everything I do."

"You should feel privileged, Zabuza. No one has ever lived to see my Sharingan twice."

"And you won't have to live to use it again. Now die!" He charged Kakashi, pulling out a kunai as he did so. He lunged at Kakashi in an attempt to stab him, but he was blocked by his opponent's hand. The kunai stabbed through Kakashi's right hand, and blood splattered onto the ground. But other than that, Kakashi was perfectly fine. He didn't even act as if he had been hurt at all.

"Before this day is through, you'll be dead, Zabuza," stated Kakashi coldly.

"Even if you're right, you won't be able to beat Haku," sneered Zabuza. "Ever since he was a boy, I've beaten fighting skill into him. His abilities are beyond imagination. He has no regard for his life or for those of others, he's just a killing machine! His skills have surpassed even my own, and he carries a powerful bloodline limit in his veins. He is unrivaled. Your pathetic Genin can't hope to beat him."

"Is there anything more boring," said Kakashi, wrenching his hand away from the kunai, "than listening to someone else brag?" Blood dripped out of the wound, adding to the small puddle on the ground as well as falling on Zabuza.

"You won't be able to fool me with your Sharingan again," said Zabuza, tucking his bloody kunai away and stepping back. "Having seen it in action, I now have a thorough understanding of its workings. There was actually more to our previous battle than you had let on. Haku had observed our entire battle from beginning to end. For him, to see a jutsu is to analyze it and understand it. He only has to see a jutsu once to fully measure its capabilities and develop a counter to it. And so…" Zabuza began forming hand seals for the Mist Jutsu.

_Here we go again…_ thought Kakashi as the mist thickened and surrounded him. However, the mist continued to get thicker. Something was wrong. Then he realized what it was: the mist was far too thick for even Zabuza to see through it. Then what purpose…?

A handful of shuriken hurtled towards him from within the mist. He pulled out his own kunai knife and quickly deflected them, causing them to fall and clatter all over the stone ground.

"You repelled them nicely," said Zabuza from behind him. The mist had cleared slightly, allowing Kakashi's ability to see enhanced. "But expecting anything less than that from the legendary Copy Ninja would be foolish, wouldn't it?"

Kakashi whirled around to face the ninja. It took a second for him to register the fact that Zabuza's eyes were closed. Why?

"You've overestimated the value of your Sharingan, Kakashi…" he said vaguely, even as the mist thickened once again to enshroud him. He continued talking, invisible from within the mist. "You can neither read my mind nor predict the future, as you would have led me to believe. It was all an elaborate hoax, a trick. I've learned that the Sharingan can not only copy any jutsu, but it can hypnotize the opponent, trapping him in a genjutsu. Then on the lake, you fooled me into thinking that you could read my thoughts by completing them for me. You created the illusion of a mirror image of myself standing behind you, to further confuse and disorient me. All you do is analyze my movements and copy them, using the rapidity of the turnaround to induce panic and insecurity. Once you're certain you understand my inner turmoil, you calculate what to say to bend my mind to your will. Then you lay your trap. You use genjutsu to fool me into using a certain jutsu and how to use it. Then, you mimic it!

"Knowing all of this, it was relatively simple for me to come up with a foolproof counter to your tricks. First, I create a mist to hinder your sight." Out of the mist, a blow struck at Kakashi. He managed to block it with his arm, but doing so was difficult. It was impossible to see very far. He leaped backwards and away from where the attack had come from, even as Zabuza continued. "And by closing my own eyes, you can't hypnotize me when I get into close enough proximity to strike you."

"But if I can't use my eyes, then neither can you!" pointed out Kakashi, ready to block any blows that could come from the mist.

"I can't," agreed Zabuza. "But I don't need them. I excel in the art of silent killing. I need only sound to know where to strike." With that, Zabuza stopped talking, but no blows rained down on Kakashi's head.

_It's been a long time since I've had such a tough opponent_, he thought. _I need to calm down and stay smart. Now, where will he attack next?_ Then it hit him: the bridge builder!

He rushed to where he had left Tazuna standing, moving as fast as his feet could carry him. He had to get there in time! He got there just as Zabuza had appeared behind them. He had pulled his sword off his back, and was about to strike with it. Kakashi jumped in the way, but he wasn't fast enough...

"Too late!" cried Zabuza triumphantly, as he swung the giant sword in a sweeping motion.

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Naruto was on his stomach, needles sticking out of almost every part of his body. Hinata was next to him, on her knees. Even as he tried to climb up again, pain flashed and burned in every part of his body. It was unbearable, and taking the needles out wouldn't help. At this point, he had practically resigned himself to the fact that he was going to lose and die here. Practically, but not quite. Groaning in pain, he stood up again, prepared to go down kicking and screaming. But he couldn't lose. He wouldn't lose. Because…

"Listen up, you bitch!" Naruto yelled, pointing at one of Haku's reflections. Whether it was the real one or just an image, he hadn't the faintest idea. "You might think you've got us cornered, got us beat, but you're wrong! You're dead wrong! Sooner or later, we're gonna break out of this ice prison and beat the shit out of you!" Even in his threats, he couldn't help but include Hinata. By now, she had wound up saving his life from Haku's needles more than once, and he had returned the favor a few times, too.

"You wanna know why?!" he asked rhetorically. "Because I'm gonna be Hokage one day! And she's… she's gonna be the best kunoichi in the Hidden Leaf Village! We won't lose here to a small timer and a low life like you!"

"You have your dreams," sad Haku and her reflections. "And I have mine. They collided… and here we see the result."

"You're talking about this fight like it's over, bitch!" Naruto yelled furiously. "But it's not! And it won't be until you're nothing but a stain on the ground!"

"I take offense to that."

"Like I give shit! You say you have dreams?! What kind of dreams would someone like you have, huh?!"

"My dream is my master's dream," responded Haku. "I am a weapon at his side. It is my purpose in life to see his dream achieved."

"Well, you're not gonna be alive to see that dream," said Naruto, pulling out a kunai. The weirdest part was, he meant it. For some strange reason, he felt like he could actually still win. Why was that? He looked over at Hinata, who was next to him and struggling to stand up straight. Did he still think he was about to die, even as he felt so confident? Whatever the reason, he looked at his friend as if to burn her image into his memory, as if he would never be able to see her again.

She was bleeding and grabbing her stomach, a grimace on her face. A needle was sticking in one end of her thigh and out the other, having penetrated the entire limb. Her cheeks were cut from various close encounters with the ice needles, and her eyes looked strange with pupils, along with the veins around them bulging in whatever way her bloodline limit worked.

Despite all of this, despite everything, he thought she was beautiful. He had never thought of her like that. "Cuter than Sakura" was the most he had ever granted her. But now, he looked at her and was filled with the strangest emotion he had ever felt. What was it? It felt like the way he did about his close friends, but… stronger. He saw her wounds, and he wished he could make them go away. He heard her groan, and he wished he could take her pain away. He saw the ice mirrors surrounding them, and he wished he could hold her close to him and protect her, and not let anything bad happen to her again.

He looked at her, and he suddenly had a feeling he knew where all his confidence was coming from.

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Haku looked down at the Genin from the safety of his ice mirror. They were wounded and exhausted. And so was he. His ribs still ached and his arms felt sore, thanks to the beating he had received from Naruto and his shadow clones. Even worse, some of his chakra points had been pressed and disrupted when the girl had unleashed a barrage of taijutsu against him. Both of those times, he had been lucky to wind up escaping, narrowly avoiding a premature defeat.

By now, his chakra was almost completely gone. The two Genin were far better than he gave them credit for. The third one, who had disappeared into the mist at one point or another, had merely gotten lucky. But the two in here… No one else had ever lasted so long in his ice mirrors. They had pushed him to his limit like no one had ever done before; he'd met Jonin who went down with less fuss than these two were doing.

But now, he _had_ to end it. If he didn't, the ice mirrors would collapse completely, freeing them. And that would mean more than just the fact that they would no longer be imprisoned. It would mean that he would be at their mercy. And judging by Naruto's comments, his chances weren't too good.

It was too bad that things had to be this way. But Zabuza's will mattered to Haku above all, even more than his own life. If Zabuza had ordered him to die for some purpose or another, he would have gladly done it. His life was worthless without purpose, so why not?

Sighing outwardly from exhaustion and inwardly from grief, he pulled out a handful of needles and prepared to deliver the final blows. He leaped from his mirror, and descended upon the Genin closest to him. The girl.

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Hinata went down with a scream of pain, tumbling to the ground. It happened so fast that Naruto barely knew what had happened by the time Haku returned to the safety of one of the mirrors, no doubt to prepare for another strike.

He ran to Hinata's side, and immediately felt sick when he saw her. Needles were now sticking out of her neck, probing all the way through. Blood was trickling out of her mouth, and her breathing came out in ragged gasps. Her bloodline limit had deactivated, and her eyes returned to their normal state.

Without even thinking, he wrapped his arms around her frail body, hugging her. His chest was pushing up against her's, and he could feel her heart beat. It seemed to beat in synchrony with his own.

"Hinata," he said to her, looking her in the eyes. "Hinata, are you alright? You're okay, right?" Why did he feel so scared?

"Naruto…" she whispered. Her gaze locked with his. "I think… I'm done…"

"What are you talking about?" he asked desperately. "We're just getting started! We have to kick this girl's ass, remember?" His words lacked the enthusiasm and confidence they had held before.

"You'll have to do it without me…" she whispered. "If you're the last person I get to see… then I'm glad," she murmured weakly. Her heartbeat fell out of sync with his own. It was slowing down.

"Hinata, you're not done!" he said, terrified. "You're not! We still have to go home remember?" His words sounded hollow, as if they carried no meaning behind them. They did; he was just so scared, scared for his friend… "We'll be the best ninjas there, right? I'll be Hokage, and you'll be the Hyuga heiress. Believe… it…"

Hinata managed the tiniest of smiles at his words. She reached up and touched his cheek with her fingers. It tickled as they brushed against his skin.

"Naruto… I…" Her eyes fluttered and closed, her ragged breathing coming to an end. Her hand fell away before he could grasp it, landing to the ground in a pool of her own blood. Her heart had stopped beating. His own heart was now beating alone.

He felt hot tears sting his eyes. Try as he might, they fell and landed on Hinata's jacket, no matter how hard he tried to blink them back. But even then, his grief was being swallowed by another emotion, one that ran far stronger within him. It was a rage like he had never felt before in his entire life. He had gotten angry and thrown temper tantrums before, but that looked like joy compared to this feeling. It was of such incredible intensity that he felt it in every fiber of his being, clouding his mind.

He barely even knew who he was anymore. It seemed like information that he was incapable of remembering. He could focus on nothing else but on one simple goal; if he died doing it, he didn't care. Death didn't even seem to exist to him at the moment, just a tormented existence. If he fell, then the only regret he would have about it would be that he had failed in achieving his purpose.

"_I'm going to kill you!"_ he roared at Haku and her reflections.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"You will be confronted with questions every day that test your morals. Think carefully and, for your sake, do the right thing, not the easy thing."

- Dennis Kozlowski, then CEO of Tyco, now convicted of billion-dollar fraud, conspiring to avoid sales taxes, and accused by shareholders of massive wasting of corporate money


	10. Like Toy Soldiers

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 10: Like Toy Soldiers_

Even as Kakashi was leaping to block the thrust of Zabuza's sword, a dozen shurikens flew from somewhere within the mist, heading straight for the rogue ninja. Zabuza's face betrayed his moment of shock, his eyes widening as the weapons hurtled towards him.

"Wha-?" He swerved his sword upwards, pulling all of his momentum out of the attack as he desperately tried to shield himself from this new threat. He couldn't have raised his sword any sooner. The shurikens clanked against it and bounced off, hitting the ground with a metallic _ping_.

Sakura ran into visibility from the mist and stood next to Tazuna, prepared to defend him. Kakashi stood between them and Zabuza, preventing another attempted attack. He was sure that he would have been too late to block Zabuza's sword. If Sakura hadn't just come along… He tried to not think about that.

Zabuza hefted up his sword and growled angrily. "Your Genin are irritating," he spat. "But it doesn't matter. Haku is about to wrap things up and kill the two brats over there, while I kill you and the brat over here. Then, I'll kill that feeble old bridge builder and finally be able to go home." He lifted his sword up higher, possibly preparing to swing it. "When you meet your Genin in the next world, hopefully they'll be able to forgive you for your weakness, Kakashi. But for now, I'm going to make this last. I still have to repay you for what you did back in our first battle…" He replaced the sword upon his back, not swinging it after all. He formed a hand seal, and disappeared into his mist.

"Sakura, don't leave Tazuna's side," commanded Kakashi. He dashed forward before speaking again. "Do you really think I made it this far with only my Sharingan to help me along? I too was once an ANBU ninja. I think it's about time I showed you my own original jutsu, one I haven't learned with the Sharingan."

Before he could continue, what sounded like an explosion came from behind him. It was right where he remembered Naruto and Hinata to be fighting. As he turned to look, he saw the giant fiery image of a fox rising into the air, its brilliant light penetrating the thick mist.

_Dear God, don't tell me that's…_

But it was.

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Haku looked down at Naruto, a feeling of dread gathering in his stomach. His fallen friend lay at his feet, and he appeared to be undergoing some sort of horrible transformation. The once thin whisker marks on his cheeks had expanded and gotten darker. His nails were growing longer, turning into claws, and his teeth were becoming fangs. Perhaps most fearsome of all, his blue eyes had turned red, with slitted pupils, like the eyes of some sort of animal…

Fiery red chakra engulfed him, swirling around him like a tornado and forming the shape of a fox's head.

_His chakra is physically manifesting itself… Impossible!_ Haku looked on in horror as Naruto's wounds began to rapidly heal, steam rising from his body and imbedded needles ejecting themselves seemingly of their own accord. _What the hell is he?! A… monster? A demon? _

His veins turned to ice when Naruto turned and looked at him, bloodlust in his eyes.

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_Has the seal broken? Are we all doomed?_ Kakashi continued to look on at the place in the air where the fox's head had appeared, even after it had faded away. _No… We're safe. The Fourth's seal was designed to let the fox's chakra mix with Naruto's. I guess it just sort of builds up and then gets released when he really needs it… But why now? He's been in danger for a while. He could have used the fox's chakra ever since the beginning of the battle…_

In any event, he needed to end his battle with Zabuza, and fast. He pulled a summoning scroll out, and put his thumb on the open wound on his hand, coating it with blood. He threw the scroll into the air, unfurling it, and ran his thumb down the length of it. He then whirled it around, rolling it back up before placing it between his folded hands.

"Listen up, Zabuza," he called out to the mist. "What do you say we stop horsing around and finish this?"

"Interesting idea, Kakashi. But I don't think that you can really decide that for yourself, considering your current predicament…"

_So you think._

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Naruto let out a growl like an animal as he looked up at Haku with eyes filled with intense rage and hate. Without warning, he leaped into the air towards the mirror in which Haku was residing. Too late, the shinobi hunter realized that he had forgotten to repopulate the ice mirrors with his reflections when he had finished attacking the girl. Now, the monster below him knew exactly where he was.

_Damn!_ He pulled out his needles and threw them at Naruto as he threw himself at the ice mirror. With a ferocious roar that was certainly not human, Naruto deflected the needles without even having to touch them. They flew off in different directions, effectively harmless.

However, he still used the distraction they had caused to move to a different mirror, one that looked straight down at Naruto. The boy looked around at the mirrors in rage and confusion, furious at having lost his prey. _I must end this now, before it gets even further out of my control!_

He quickly created his reflections once more, filling up the mirrors and surrounding Naruto. Before the boy could react or move, scores of needles rained down upon him. For a second, it looked like it had worked. Naruto fell to one knee, dozens of needles imbedded in his flesh. Then, with an inhuman burst of red chakra, they exploded out of him and flew off in all directions, hitting the ice mirrors. Haku's reflections disappeared, and again he was the only one left.

He leaped down at Naruto from his mirror, prepared to stab him with a handful of needles. Naruto, however, noticed him in time. He punched the ground and jumped away from Haku's attack at the last possible second, flipping over in the air as he did so.

Haku crashed headfirst into the ground, and was left dazed and disoriented. He was dimly aware of the fact that he was as good as dead if Naruto caught him. His chakra was now pretty much completely depleted; he had no idea what he was going to do next even if he escaped Naruto's clutches. He was feeling an emotion that he wasn't used to: fear.

He quickly climbed to his feet, knowing that Naruto would soon be back on his feet as well. He scrambled to the nearest mirror, desperate to get to safety before it was too late. If he had to go hand-to-hand with that monster…

He had nearly reached the mirror when he felt a clawed hand grab onto his wrist with a crushing grip. He stumbled, and turned to look at Naruto. He barely even looked like the same person any more. Hate filled his eyes, and red chakra was surrounding his body. In addition to feeling like the bones in his wrist were about to snap, Haku felt his skin scorching under the intensity of the foul chakra. An explosion of the red chakra emanated from Naruto, burning Haku and cracking the ice mirrors with its ferocity. Even as he cried out in pain, Naruto cocked his red fist, ready to beat his face in.

_This battle is over._ Haku's words returned to him. And as he saw the flaming fist speed straight toward his face, he realized that it most certainly was.

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When Naruto's fist connected with Haku's mask, it felt disturbingly good. And when the ninja went flying, shattering one of her mirrors as she flew out, he felt an odd sense of joy at seeing it. This feeling, this power… He loved it. It was a strange feeling to have; being enraged enough to unleash this power, and being overjoyed at having it. The joy, however, seemed to be coming from some outside source, as if the power was a separate entity within him. He felt almost nothing but pure rage within him, and it almost seemed as if the happiness was being shoved upon him. But that didn't really matter. He was finally beating the shit out of Haku. Now, all he had to do was kill the shinobi hunter.

Eagerly, he hurtled straight past the shattered ice mirror and towards where Haku had landed. The mist surrounding him was thick, but he could se the faint outline of Haku climbing to her feet. With a feeling of triumph, he dashed towards her. She was becoming more and more visible as he got closer. Finally, he could see her clearly. Her mask was broken into pieces from the power of his punch, and it fell off her face one piece at a time. Her entire face was visible as he sprinted at her, fist cocked to deliver the final blow.

Then he saw Haku's face clearly, and he stopped in his tracks, fist hanging in the air.

"You're that guy…" he said, shocked. He could feel confusion adding itself to the list of emotions going through his mind. He'd been calling this guy a bitch the entire battle, thinking he was a girl. Inside of him, he could feel his rage evaporating, taking his power with it. He wished it wouldn't leave, but it was hard to force yourself to get angry at a moment's notice, especially when you were trying to sort things out in your head.

"Why did you stop?" Haku asked him. Naruto's fist still waved around in front of the ninja's face, ready to strike but seemingly incapable of doing so. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to hit Haku anymore. Not when he turned out to be a real person, not just some ominous figure hidden by a mask.

"I killed your comrade," continued Haku. "Your beloved friend. Why do you hesitate?"

Naruto turned his head to look back at Hinata's body. When he saw her, he felt his rage flare up again. Why did she have to die? Why hadn't he been able to save her? He felt more enraged with himself than at Haku. He should have known better than to just stand around like an idiot! Haku had been bound to attack at any moment. He should have done something, anything, to protect her…

His fist fell to his side. He felt all of his anger and hate disappear, leaving him without the amazing red chakra. Wherever it had come from, it had gone back into hiding, maybe for a little while, maybe forever.

"She's dead," he murmured in a daze. "I didn't save her…"

"Then avenge her, and kill me!" Haku persisted.

"It wouldn't make any difference…" he muttered. "Killing you won't bring her back. Nothing will. She had hopes and dreams, and now she won't be able to achieve them anymore…"

He remembered that first day with Kakashi, where she told them that her dream was to be acknowledged by her father, to prove herself to him. She wanted to prove that she was worthy of being the Hyuga heiress. He knew that he was convinced that she had been worthy of that. She had proved herself to him with the way she had fought so bravely during this entire mission. But so what? Now she was dead, and it was all for nothing. And worst of all, her death was his fault more than anyone else's. Haku had been doing his job, hadn't he? And he couldn't possibly blame Hinata for her own death. If she had seen the attack coming, she would have known to get out of the way. The responsibility rested solely on his shoulders.

"My hopes and dreams have also been crushed," Haku said. Naruto wasn't even looking at his face anymore, choosing instead to stare at the ground. "It's an empty and meaningless existence when you don't have a dream. Defeat has cost me my dream. Zabuza has no use for a weak shinobi like me. You've taken away my reason for living."

_You see, when a person has something that they want to protect, then they become genuinely strong._

The words came back to Naruto. They were the ones that Haku had told him that very morning. Zabuza was someone that Haku held dear? Some low life creep, an eyebrowless freak?

"You see, Zabuza has a very violent past," said Haku. "When he was a boy, he killed every single graduating ninja student in the Hidden Mist Village. He grew up to become one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, then attempted a coup d'état. He failed, and was forced to flee for his life. Before that incident occurred, he discovered me, wasting away as a beggar.

"When I was a boy, I lived in a village where it snowed all the time. I had a mother and a father, and they were both good to me. However, as I aged, I began to notice something strange about me. Strange powers nobody else seemed to have. I had a bloodline limit. And in the Land of Water, where war occurs almost constantly, those that carry a kekkei genkai are feared and persecuted as abominations. The girl, your friend, she too carried a bloodline limit. She might know what it is like to be feared and hated. Or if not her, then perhaps someone else in her clan at one point or another.

"I later found out that I had inherited my kekkei genkai from my mother. She told me to never let anyone know, or else we would surely die. We did our best to maintain our dangerous secret, but it was to no avail. My father eventually found out. He then killed my mother… and tried to kill me. I reacted instinctively, and before I knew what was happening, he lay dead before me.

"The most painful thing about it was that I no longer had a purpose. No one cared about me. I was unloved, shunned."

_He's… like me…_ Naruto thought, shocked. He knew exactly what it was like to be persecuted and unloved.

"You told me before that your dream was to become Hokage," Haku continued. "So that you would be loved and respected by your village. But if there was someone who was different, someone who acknowledged you, someone who didn't think you were a monster, maybe even loved you… Wouldn't that person be precious to you?"

Naruto looked up at Haku in shock. How did he know so much about what it was like to be loved? He tried to think of someone in his own life that acknowledged and loved him. Was there anyone other than Iruka? His teammates, maybe? Sakura hated him. But Hinata… She had said that she had always wanted to be his friend. With a feeling of despair, he realized that not only had he allowed one of his teammates to die, he had also let down one of the only people who acknowledged him.

"Zabuza adopted me as his own when he found me," Haku solemnly went on. "My life changed for the better… I had a purpose again! I left with Zabuza after his failed coup, and he promised that he would one day return to claim what was rightfully his. But to do that, he would need neither love nor support. All he needed was someone to loyally stand by his side and carry out his will, a human weapon… But now, his weapon has failed. Zabuza has no use for a broken sword! Please, Naruto… take my life."

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Kakashi formed a series of hand signs, then slammed the scroll onto the ground. The ground cracked as the Summoning Jutsu worked.

"Do you have a death wish, Kakashi?" called out Zabuza from the mist. "Why are you making such a racket when you know I only need sound to find you? You don't even know where I am!"

A loud crash, and Zabuza cried out. Kakashi knew then that his jutsu had worked.

"When your eyes and ears fail you," he called back, "you can always just follow your nose." The mist cleared, and he could see his pack of nin-dogs holding down Zabuza, leaving the rogue ninja unable to move and opening him up for an attack. "My ninja hounds can track a scent anywhere," Kakashi explained. "And it only worked because you closed your eyes and fancied yourself invulnerable. You think that it was my own weakness that let you stab and wound me, but in reality I _let_ you do that. I wanted the smell of my blood all over you. Now, you're trapped, and the mist is clearing. You know what I foresee now, Zabuza? Your death!"

"You don't know what you're talking about," retorted Zabuza. "And I've had enough of your bluffing."

"No one's bluffing. You have no way out, face it. You're going to die." Kakashi began preparing himself for his final jutsu. "Zabuza, you've had your fun. At Konoha, we know all about your failed coup d'état. You tried to assassinate the Mizukage, but failed and fled. You've been assassinating people for money ever since, trying to scrape together a chance at a second attempt. You've even stooped so low to work for a villain like Gato."

He made a set of hand signs, then grabbed his right wrist as chakra began to gather there, becoming visible and taking on the form of electrical energy.

"You're a loose cannon, a danger to everyone around you. You're willing to crush the spirit of this land, just so you can make money to advance your own ambitions. That's not what a true shinobi would do."

"Spare me the guilt trip," spat Zabuza. "I'm fighting for my own ideals, and I'm not about to stop."

"Then, like I said, your only possible future is death."

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"What are you waiting for?" asked Haku. "Why won't you just kill me and get it over with?"

"You… You're crazy!" exclaimed Naruto. "What kind of person wants to die just because they lost a battle?!"

"We're two of a kind, Naruto. Surely, you know what it's like to have no purpose. Zabuza will abandon me if you don't kill me now. I couldn't live with that. You'll have to dirty your hands with my blood… For that I'm sorry. But I beg you, please just put me out of my misery!"

"You're… sure about this? This is the only way?"

"Yes!" Haku looked happy about Naruto finally giving in.

Naruto sighed, and pulled out a kunai. Was he really going to go through with this? And to think that just a little while ago, he would have killed Haku without even having to be asked to do so.

"I hope you find your dream, Naruto," Haku said. Naruto turned his head to look at Hinata's body again.

_She won't find her's._

He turned back to Haku. "If we'd met somewhere else… some other way… maybe we could've been friends." He tightly gripped his kunai and pulled his arm back, ready to plunge it into Haku.

"Thank you," Haku murmured quietly. "You will become very strong."

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"Can you see anything through all this mist?" asked Sakura. She was standing next to Tazuna, ready to protect him.

"The mist is beginning to clear up," he answered. "I think I can make out two people, but I'm not sure…"

"I can see them, too," replied Sakura. "It looks like they're just standing there." She continued to look at the two figures until it looked like one of them began to move. "Wait. It looks like one is going to charge the other!"

_Who are they?_ she thought, worried. _Is it Kakashi-sensei and Zabuza? Haku and Naruto? Haku and Hinata? WHO?!_

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Kakashi hadn't used his Lightning Blade in a while. The familiar sensation it brought back to his hand always reminded him of that disastrous mission back in the Third Ninja War, where he and his team needed to blow up bridge to cut off a supply line to an advancing army. Obito had died, and had given him his Sharingan eye to replace the one he had lost as a present. The eye allowed him to use his Lightning Blade properly. Before, it had been a danger to himself, as his eyes weren't capable of seeing an opponent's counter to it.

Now, with Zabuza held down by nin-dogs, he couldn't hope to even dodge, let alone counter. With a burst of speed, he charged Zabuza, ready to end this once and for all.

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Naruto still wasn't sure he was ready to kill Haku even as he swung the kunai. So he decided to simply not think about it. He knew that if he hesitated, he wouldn't be able to make himself do it. The blade drew closer to Haku's heart. Part of Naruto screamed to pull the kunai back before it was too late. Another part screamed just as loudly to follow through and worry about what happened later.

_If not for yourself, then at least do it for Hinata._ So he thought to himself over and over. He had closed his eyes; he didn't want to see himself kill Haku. He was taken by surprise when Haku grabbed his wrist and turned the kunai away, preventing Naruto from striking him.

_Wha-? He tricked me! He's gonna kill me now!_

"Sorry, Naruto. There's been a change of plan." But instead of hitting or stabbing Naruto, he made several one-handed seals, and disappeared. Naruto stood there, confused. What the hell had just happened? Through the dense fog, he could see the outlines of several people off in the distance. Without thinking, he ran towards them as fast as he could.

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Kakashi thrust his Lightning Blade at Zabuza. Before he could reach him, an ice mirror materialized to the side. What was going on? Haku should have been back fighting Naruto and Hinata… He had put too much of his weight behind the attack, and now he couldn't pull it back. Just because his eyes were fast enough to follow what was going on didn't necessarily mean he could do anything about it.

His Lightning Blade struck. In the blinding light in front of him, he couldn't see who it was… Then he saw Haku standing before him. His mask was gone, revealing a severely beaten and bruised face. Blood was gushing out of his mouth, and Kakashi's hand was inside of his chest. Haku's blood was all over the place, hitting both Kakashi and Zabuza and staining the ground. The fury of the Lightning Blade had forced his nin-dogs to disappear, freeing Zabuza.

With his dying breath, Haku murmured, "Zabuza…" He then grabbed Kakashi's arm. It took Kakashi a second to figure out why. He was trying to hold him down, so that Zabuza would have an easier time of striking him. Even in death, Haku was doing his best to carry out his master's will. Where did this kid draw the limit?

Zabuza grinned. "That's the second time you predicted my death, Kakashi," he scoffed. "And it's the second time you were wrong." He grabbed the handle of his sword.

_He's going to cut straight through the boy just to get to me!_ Kakashi realized. Indeed, Zabuza leaned forward to swing his sword, perfectly willing to cut Haku's corpse in half.

Kakashi grabbed the back of Haku's body and leaped backwards to avoid the blow, saving Haku from further mutilation. Zabuza missed and snarled in anger, clearly uncaring of the sacrifice Haku had just committed for him.

_Ungrateful bastard…_ Kakashi thought savagely. He pulled his blood-soaked hand out of Haku's chest and lay his body down. Haku's eyes were still open; Kakashi moved his palm down the boy's bloody face to close them. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Naruto approaching them, running as fast as he could.

"Naruto, stay back!" he commanded. Naruto had most likely seen what had just happened, what Zabuza had just done. And knowing him, he would furiously throw himself headlong into the battle. But Naruto heeded Kakashi's order, staying far enough away to be in relative safety.

"Naruto!" called out Sakura's voice from where she was standing. The mist had finally cleared up enough to allow visibility to almost return to normal. "You're alive! I knew you could do it!"

Naruto looked in Sakura's direction from his position. For some reason, he didn't respond to the obvious praise he was receiving from his crush. If there was some sort of morbid signal he was giving off, Sakura wasn't receiving it.

"So where's Hinata?" she called out to him again. He seemed to wince when he heard her name, and again he refused to answer her. He brought his hand up to his face and seemed to wipe something away from his eyes. Was it… tears?

_No_, thought Kakashi. _She couldn't have…_

"You'd better stay on guard, Kakashi!" yelled Zabuza, charging him with his sword. Kakashi forced himself to concentrate on the battle. If there was grieving to do, then it could be done later. Zabuza drew nearer, sword raised. Kakashi took advantage of the obvious opening, kicking Zabuza in the stomach from his position near the ground. With an _oof_ of pain and surprise, Zabuza was thrown backwards. If there ever was a time to just hurry up and end the battle once and for all, that time was now.

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Sakura walked along the bridge towards where Naruto was standing, Tazuna in tow. They were careful to avoid the raging battle between Kakashi and Zabuza. What had happened inside those ice mirrors? Where had Hinata run off to? She planned to ask Naruto about it as soon as she got to him. He must not have heard her when she had called out to him, or else he would have responded… right?

After what seemed like far too long, the two reached Naruto. She was shocked when she saw his appearance. He was cut, beaten, stabbed, and his clothes were torn in various places. And his face… He had a look in his eyes that seemed like he wasn't even aware of his surroundings. It looked like he was a million miles away, at least in his own mind.

"Naruto?" she asked. "Are you okay?" He looked up at her and shook his head. She noticed for the first time that his cheeks were wet. Had he been crying? No, that wasn't like Naruto…

"What's the matter? Where's Hinata at?" Naruto stared down at the ground.

"She's back there," he choked out, pointing behind him.

"Oh. Is she hurt?"

"She's dead."

The way Naruto said those two words was almost frightening. They were dull, totally devoid of emotion. It was eerie.

"She's… what?" Naruto's words began to sink in. "Are you sure?" The blond nodded his head, but didn't speak. Hinata was dead? How? Did Haku kill her? "Naruto, I…" Sakura was at a loss for words. She hadn't imagined what it would be like to lose a partner, a teammate. Hinata had been the "invisible girl" for most of the time that Sakura had known her. She was shy and distant, a stark contrast to Naruto. But it still felt like a slap in the face to learn of her death. She remembered how she had treated Hinata before, as if she wasn't worth bothering about. She wished now that she had treated her better, acknowledged her. Now that Hinata was gone, Sakura fully realized and appreciated how good of a teammate she'd made. The irony of that disturbed her.

How would the team go on, after losing a member? Were replacements made for these kinds of things, like a broken part of a machine? Or was the entire team simply disbanded? These and a thousand other useless questions ran through her head for several moments.

"I'll… I'll go and check on her," she said in a daze. Naruto did not make any sign that he had heard her. Would checking her do any good? How could it? She was dead!

She walked to the spot where she remembered the sphere of ice mirrors to be. Sure enough, she spotted Hinata's body, lying in the middle of a huge puddle of water, which was all that was left of Haku's ice mirrors. It looked like there was blood spilled onto the ground, as well, and used senbon gleamed in the light of the sun. She approached Hinata's body slowly, as if in caution. She grimaced when she saw the various needles sticking out of her body. Without thinking, she knelt beside her fallen comrade and began pulling out the senbon needles. For some reason, she was extra careful in pulling out the needles in her neck, which wouldn't make any difference now that she was dead.

She sighed when she finished her gruesome work. Her hands were bloody again, too. She would have to wash them again. At least this time, though, she didn't feel like the blood would leave a permanent stain on her. She reached out and grabbed Hinata's wrist, wanting to be absolutely sure that Hinata was beyond help. Sure enough, there was no pulse. It didn't really surprise her, but it felt disappointing to say the least.

She gathered chakra into her hands and very carefully began healing the cuts and stab wounds on Hinata's neck and face. _No reason to make it a closed casket funeral, not if it can be avoided_, she thought to herself. In reality, the only real reason she was doing it was so that she would have something to do with her hands, and not let her think too hard about what had just happened.

She remembered the Twenty-Fifth Rule of Shinobi Conduct. All one hundred of them had been relentlessly pounded into her skull by the Academy teachers, and she had taken pride in being able to know them all by heart. And the Twenty-Fifth stated that no shinobi, under any circumstances, was to show any form of emotion, that the mission was the only priority. She knew it, but it was harder to follow it than she had thought it would be. Naruto hadn't shown any form of emotion when she had talked with him. Either he was much better at memorizing than she had figured him to be, or he was simply too stunned to feel anything.

Naruto… How close had he been with Hinata? Closer than she had been? Had they been close friends? Had they been… _more_ than just friends?

No, of course not. She would have known. For some reason, the prospect of them being a couple without her knowledge felt like some sort of betrayal. But she realized that that was ridiculous. Naruto's life was none of her business, and neither was Hinata's. Still, it was an unsettling thought that she would be the only one on the team not in on it. She felt like she should at least be told if both of her partners were an item.

But at the very least, Naruto and Hinata were partners in this battle, even if they had rarely communed in the past. The look in his eyes made sense now. It reminded her of the way she felt when she had killed those two samurai. Like she would be scarred forever…

She couldn't imagine what it must be like to watch your comrade struck down. It was probably even worse than killing your own enemy, or at least until you got used to seeing people get killed, in which case it wouldn't leave you mentally scarred.

"So, she's really dead, is she?" asked a gravelly voice from behind her. Sakura hadn't been aware of Tazuna's presence, she had just assumed that he had hung back with Naruto.

"Yeah…" she said sadly. What else could she say? If there was anything else to be said, she certainly didn't feel like talking.

"Shame…" Tazuna muttered, shaking his head. "Such a damn shame…"

Sakura looked down at Hinata's face. It looked peaceful now, as if she were only sleeping. The only evidence to the contrary was that her chest was still, not rising and falling with each breath she took. Sakura sighed again. The life of a shinobi was a hard one, from the beginning all the way to the end.

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Zabuza yelled angrily and charged Kakashi. He was wounded now and was much slower than he had been at the beginning of the battle. There were kunais sticking out of his arms, making it more difficult for him to swing his giant sword. As Zabuza got close enough to attack, Kakashi punched him in the face, knocking him backwards. Zabuza desperately swung his sword in Kakashi's direction, hoping to catch the ninja off guard.

He was disappointed. Kakashi vanished and reappeared behind him, grabbing the back of his neck. His sword fell to the ground with a crash, creating a crater in the bridge.

"Look at you," said Kakashi. "You're falling apart. You can't even keep up with me any more." He pulled out two kunais, and twirled them around in his fingers before grasping them by the handles. "This is the end, 'demon.'" He swung them at Zabuza, finally about to kill the rogue ninja. But Zabuza wasn't done yet.

In a last ditch effort, he hefted his sword up with a single hand and blindly swung it at the Jonin behind him. Kakashi quickly changed the course of the kunais, plunging them into Zabuza's arm and preventing him from completing the sweeping motion. Kakashi hopped backwards out of the way, and the giant sword flew from his grasp and landed several yards away, out of his reach. It wouldn't have mattered even if it landed a few feet away: both his arms were now completely useless, and were hanging limply at his side.

"You're finished now, Zabuza," Kakashi stated confidently. "You can't use either of your arms. No more jutsu, no more attacks."

"Well, he's certainly made a fine mess of you!" said a familiar voice. Zabuza and Kakashi both looked in shock at Gato's arrival. The short man was wearing a suit and sunglasses, and carried around a cane. His left arm had a cast on it. A veritable army of thugs and mercenaries was standing behind him.

"Gato…" Zabuza croaked out. "What are you doing here… And with all of them?" Kakashi looked between the two suspiciously.

"There's been a slight change of plan," said Gato, as if he were negotiating a business deal. To him, maybe this was just another business deal. "Or of your plans, anyway. This is what I had in mind all along. You're going to die, 'demon,' here and now."

"What?"

"Surely you must have guessed? I never intended to pay you anything. It's a pain in the neck to hire ninja from a hidden village. They charge too much, and they tend to have friends in high places that object if you decide to betray and kill them. It's so much easier to hire renegades like yourself. You're cheap and self-centered. No one gives a crap what happens when you finish the job. So I just hire a gang of mercenaries to get rid of you. It's cheap and efficient. My only mistake was hiring you at all. You call yourself the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist.' You're no demon. A baby demon, maybe!" The thugs behind him broke out in a cacophony of laughter.

_Who are they?_ thought Naruto as he looked on at them. _That's some crowd!_

"Forgive me, Kakashi," said Zabuza, sounding truly remorseful. "It looks like our fight is over. I no longer have a reason to kill Tazuna, so that settles our little dispute."

"Yeah," agreed Kakashi. "You're right."

Naruto looked on at them, confused. Five minutes ago they had been ready to kill each other!

"That reminds me," said Gato, walking up to Haku's body where Kakashi had left it. "You squeezed my wrist until you broke the bones!" He kicked Haku's body and laughed. Naruto looked on in horror at such blatant disrespect.

"You bastard!" he cried out angrily, and ran at Gato. Kakashi reached out and grabbed his jacket, preventing him from getting harmed.

"Don't be stupid, Naruto," he said warningly. "There's too many of them."

"Why don't you do something?!" Naruto yelled at Zabuza, infuriated by the fact that he was just standing there. "You two worked together didn't you?!"

"What difference does it make? He's dead," said Zabuza, annoyed.

"But you should care! That fat midget's kicking Haku's dead body around, and you're just standing there! He worked for you since he was a little boy!"

"I used him… the same way that Gato's used me. Don't you know anything? All shinobi are either tools or users… or both. I didn't care about Haku, only about his abilities. I have no regrets!"

"You… Do you really mean that?" Naruto asked angrily. Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, he's not our enemy anymore," sad his sensei. "Besides−"

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto angrily, shaking off Kakashi's hand. He pointed his finger at Zabuza. "As far as I'm concerned, he's enemy number one!" Zabuza glared at him from the corner of his eye, but Naruto didn't care. Everything seemed to be happening to him at once. Hinata, someone he held precious, was dead. Haku, who had selflessly served his master since childhood, had sacrificed himself to protect Zabuza. But what really infuriated him was that they had fought and died for nothing, as if their lives, their hopes and dreams, were meaningless.

"He really cared for you!" he yelled angrily, pointing at Haku's dead body. "He was devoted to you! But you say that that's nothing, that he's nothing! Are you really that heartless?!" He felt tears welling up in his eyes. This time, he didn't bother trying to hold them back. "And I wonder, when I get powerful, will I get to be just like you? He gave his life for you! He thought you cared about him! And he died, without ever having a dream of his own…You were his dream! He died as your tool. That's so wrong. _So wrong!_"

He wondered what would happen if he ever met another girl like Hinata. Someone beautiful, someone caring, someone willing to throw her life away for him… Would he be as cruel as Zabuza?

Tear drops fell by Zabuza's feet, and he looked up at him in shock. Zabuza… was crying? It seemed that the ninja had been feeling emotions the entire time for his comrade. And despite how much he tried to conceal them, he had wound up being revealed by the words of a mere child, pushed over the edge and finally showing his other side.

"Your words cut deeper than any blade…" Zabuza choked out. He really had feelings for Haku, after all… "What he did, It wasn't just for me. As he fought you, his heart was breaking in two, over you and your friends. He was always too kind, too gentle… And… I'm glad that my last battle was against you. And you're right."

"Huh?"

"Shinobi are still human, no matter how hard we try to conceal that simple fact." He began tearing at the bandages covering his mouth and face with his teeth, and the rags fell away. "Would you lend me your kunai?"

"… Sure." Naruto grabbed a kunai out of his weapons pouch and tossed it to Zabuza.

The rogue ninja caught it with his teeth, and glared fiercely at Gato and his gang of mercenaries. With almost no warning, he charged at them. Gato panicked.

"What are you waiting for?" he yelled at the men. "Just kill him! Kill him now!" He ran behind them, using them as a line of defense against a vengeful Zabuza.

"Are you crazy?" one of the men called out to him. "You're one guy, against all of us!" That was the last thing the man ever said.

Zabuza tore straight into him with the blade in his mouth, stabbing him in the chest before rapidly attacking the next man. They all crowded around him, trying to land a blow, but he weaved and dodged all of them, stabbing and slashing all the while. A man tried to hit him with a sword; Zabuza leaped over him and landed on his feet. The men were so numerous that all he had to do was turn his head to slash one of them. He ran straight through the crowd, only stopping when one of them was in his direct path, in which case he cut them to pieces. A man with two swords tried to swing at him, but Zabuza ripped his stomach open with one maneuver. Another man ran at him from behind, and Zabuza slashed his throat. He continued on his bloody trail to the end of the bridge, trying to get to Gato. He was stabbed in the back with a spear, but he pressed forward, ignoring the pain.

Eventually, he carved his way through the men, leaving piles of dead in his wake. He smashed through the men standing between him and Gato, and charged the terrified tycoon, stabbing him in the stomach. Gato hacked and coughed out blood. Half a dozen spears imbedded themselves in Zabuza's back, causing him to groan and stumble forward. The mercenaries responsible backed off, reluctant to be on the receiving end of his wrath. Gato stepped backwards, clutching his stab wound.

"If you're so desperate to join your friend, then don't take me with you!" he said.

"I… have no intention… of going to the same place… as Haku…" Zabuza managed to say, stepping towards Gato.

"What nonsense are you babbling about?!"

"I'm taking you with me… to hell! I here there are plenty of demons down there, in all shapes and sizes! I can't think of a more fitting place for a demon ninja to go, can you? And once we're down there, we can find out who the real 'baby demon' is!"

He slashed at Gato once more with the kunai, tearing open his chest and stomach even further. He finally slashed him across the throat, and sent Gato careening off the edge of the bridge and into the sea below.

Zabuza turned back to look at the remaining mercenaries, who all cleared a path for him as he shambled down the bridge towards Haku's body. Zabuza stumbled forward, then collapsed. Naruto looked on in shock, then cast his gaze down.

"Don't look away," Kakashi told him. "This is the end of a shinobi." Naruto reluctantly looked back up.

_So this is a shinobi's lot in life_, he thought to himself.

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"Sakura?" asked a weak voice below her. She looked down in shock. Hinata's eyes were open, and she was breathing again, her chest slowly rising and falling.

"Hinata…? You're alive…?" It took a second for her to understand what was going on. "You're alive!" she cried out, and hugged the kunoichi. "Oh God, you're alive, you're alive, you're alive!" She felt nothing but relief and happiness right then, as if an enormous wait had been lifted off her shoulders.

"She's not dead after all, huh? Well, that's good news!" said Tazuna.

Hinata got up into a sitting position, looking dazed and confused. She seemed to be having a hard time moving; Sakura remembered how Kakashi said it took a week for people put into death states to fully recover.

"There, there," she soothed. "Don't move too much, you'll strain yourself. Once we get back to Konoha, you'll probably get treated, but for now…" Sakura trailed off.

_Home_, she thought fondly. After a week of this hell, she would finally be able to go home. No more hand-me-downs from Tsunami, no more fish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

She would be able to shop all she wanted, eat whatever she wanted… It was almost overwhelming to think about all of it.

"I… I'm alive…" Hinata murmured. She sounded as shocked about that fact as Sakura was. "Where's Naruto at? Is he okay?" Her voice had livened up, almost sounding frantic. Her voice always seemed to get like that when she worried about Naruto.

"Naruto's fine, relax," said Sakura. "And that masked kid is dead, too. Kakashi killed her," she stated, still confused about Haku's actual gender.

"And Zabuza?"

"I'm not sure. I think that he's dead, too. Tazuna's safe."

"So, the mission's completed?" Hinata's voice sounded hopeful. Was she tired of being stuck here just like her?

"We have to stay until the bridge is completed, but that should only take a couple of days at the most. So basically, yeah. We're done."

Hinata collapsed back onto the ground, a grin on her face as she stared up at the sky. "Thank you," she whispered. Sakura only grinned. She felt exactly the same way.

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"Hey, Naruto!" called out Sakura's voice from behind him. He slowly turned to look. "Hinata's alive!" she continued. "Look, she's still alive! Haku didn't kill her!"

He squinted at them. Tazuna was out there with them, standing off to the side, and Sakura was sitting on the ground. Hinata's body was still laying on the ground… then he saw it move. Hinata was trying to sit up, but was apparently having a hard time doing it. Sakura seemed to hold her back, making her lay back down.

_She… She's still… Haku didn't…_ He had a hard time forming a single complete thought. Too many emotions were running wild in his head: surprise, confusion, gratitude… and mainly, joy.

Without even realizing what he was doing, he collapsed to his knees, sobbing. He didn't care that there were still a bunch of mercenaries left over, that Zabuza lay dying, that everyone could see him making a spectacle of himself. If Hinata was alive, what did it matter?

_As he fought you, his heart was breaking in two, over you and your friends. He was always too kind, too gentle…_ Zabuza's words came back to Naruto. Haku had never intended to kill either of them, from the very beginning. He really had been a good person, pure of soul. Even Zabuza, deep down inside, wasn't as bad as he had seemed.

"The wonders never cease…" murmured Kakashi from nearby. "I had feared the worst."

"Hey! Aren't you guys forgetting something!" one of the mercenaries called. They were all shouting.

"With Gato gone, who's gonna pay us now?! We'll have to sack that little village just to break even!"

"I guess I spoke too soon…" said Kakashi, sounding disappointed.

"Hey!" said Naruto, recovering and getting back up. "Don't you have some sort of super jutsu to get rid of all of them?"

"I'm afraid not. My chakra is exhausted."

"Let's go!" yelled the mercenaries, and surged forward. There were way too many of them, even though Zabuza had just finished slaughtering a bunch of them. What the hell were they going to do?

A crossbow bolt suddenly flew through the air, landing right in front of the crowd of mercenaries and imbedding itself in the stone. They all stopped in surprise, and Naruto turned around to look for the person who shot it.

The villagers were all there, armed and ready to fight. Inari was at the forefront, wearing a tin helmet and carrying a crossbow.

"If you try to get any further, we'll stop you with everything we've got!" yelled one of the villagers near the front. All of the others cheered and waved their weapons in the air, the majority of which appeared to be farming tools.

"Inari!" Naruto called out happily. So, the little crybaby had turned out okay, after all!

Inari grinned and raised his crossbow to lean on his shoulder. "The hero always shows up at the last minute!" he called out happily. The mercenaries were wavering, seeing that they would have to fight some more just to get any valuables from the village. Naruto decided to help out, and turned back to face them.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Four clones appeared behind him, and the mercenaries cried out in fear.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu," Kakashi called out, and what looked like fifty clones appeared behind him, ready to fight. "Kakashi Style!" they chorused. "So, do you still want to fight?"

The mercenaries turned around in terror and fled, climbing down the ladder on the bridge and jumping into their boat. Some of them just jumped off the end and landed into the water. They left their dead on the bridge, a gruesome sight of gore.

"We did it!" cried out Inari. All of the villagers let out an enormous cheer, one that seemed to shake the ground beneath Naruto's feet. They had a right to cheer. They were free now, liberated from Gato's cruel grip. Kakashi fixed his headband so that it covered his Sharingan eye and approached Zabuza, who lay dying.

"Kakashi, do me a favor…" he said weakly.

"What is it?"

"Take me to his body… I want to see him, one last time…"

"Sure." He removed the spears sticking out of Zabuza's back and gently picked him up, setting him down next to Haku's body. To everyone's bewilderment, it suddenly began snowing.

"Snow, at this time of year?" said a villager. It was the middle of summer, and should have been impossible for snow.

"Thank you, Kakashi…" Zabuza managed to say. Kakashi stepped back from the two on the ground, and went back towards where Naruto was standing.

"You were always at my side in life," said the ninja, turning to look at Haku's face. "Now… I'll be at your side, in death." He managed to force one of his hands to move, which he raised to Haku's face, brushing his cheek with his fingertips. "I wish I could go to the same place as you, and join you there…"

The clouds parted, and the sun began to shine down on where Zabuza and Haku were lying. A snow flake landed on Haku's eyelid and melted. Its water trailed down the side of Haku's face, giving him the appearance that he was crying. Naruto began crying again himself.

"He said that he came from a village where it snowed all the time," he sniffled, tears running down his face.

"I see," said Kakashi solemnly. "He had a soul that was as pure as the snow." He looked on at the bodies that lay together, basking in the sun's golden rays. "Maybe you will join him there, Zabuza," he said quietly. "Who's to say…"

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Team 7 stood before the grave markers respectfully, as the setting sun cast its light on them. Two wooden crosses were all the honor Haku and Zabuza received, and a wreath of flowers was placed on both of them. Zabuza's giant sword was stuck into the ground behind his marker, and the sun's light reflected off of it.

"Is what they said true?" asked Naruto. "Were they right about what shinobi really are? The users and the used?"

"A shinobi shouldn't waste too much time trying to figure what his true purpose is," Kakashi responded. "We exist as a tool for our village, and that's all that should matter."

"So, we're like toy soldiers? We get wound up and forced to march wherever we're told?"

"In a sense. But in another sense, aren't we all just tools in the hands of fate?"

Naruto grunted. He had no witty response to that. Even if he did, he probably would have just kept his mouth shut.

"Do you really feel that way, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Hinata. She was able to stand upright by now, but she still seemed to have trouble walking or doing anything strenuous.

"Well… That's a question that all ninja have to live with. Like Zabuza. He wasn't happy with just being a tool, or, as Naruto put it, being a toy soldier. He wanted to control his own destiny. And as for Haku, he seemed perfectly content with being used. In fact, that's all he wanted. To be needed."

"Well, I've decided to have my own nindo," said Naruto adamantly, gazing at the crosses. "A path with no regrets!" He remembered what it felt like to see his friends and comrades go down before him. The terror in his heart when he watched Hinata fall, the rage he felt when Sakura was wounded… He wasn't there for them.

"I vow to never go back on my word, and to never let any of my friends get hurt again. Not while I'm still breathing will I ever let anyone down again," Naruto said triumphantly. He felt confident about his ninja way. Even if he really did die to defend his friends, he wouldn't have any regrets. Besides, what life was worth living if you let everyone down, and watched them die in front of you? None, as far as he was concerned. He turned back to look at his teammates, and was surprised to see that they were all smiling at him.

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"Well, the bridge is finally complete, thanks to you," Tazuna said to the team. They were all on the threshold of the bridge, bags packed and ready to go. Hinata was almost fully recovered, and she was capable of walking on her own by now, unlike when she was just beginning to recover (Naruto had offered to carry her around, but she had blushed and refused). The entire village was present to see them off.

"It's going to be awfully boring without you three here, though…" Tazuna went on sadly.

"Don't worry!" said Naruto, grinning. "We'll come visit! And if you ever need any help, just call me!"

Inari, who was standing between Tazuna and Tsunami, suddenly began crying. "You promise?" he sniffled out.

"For sure! Believe it!"

Inari burst into sobs, and continued trying to talk. "Well, you better!" he managed to say. Team 7 said their final goodbyes and turned around, crossing the great bridge that connected the Land of Fire to the Land of Waves.

"You know, you still need to pick a name for this bridge, Dad," said Tsunami as Inari wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"I have a perfect name for it!" said Tazuna happily.

"Really? What is it?"

"How about, 'The Great Naruto Bridge?'"

"The name is perfect," said Tsunami, grinning.

"The name is a sign that this bridge will never weaken, and soon people the world over will know about the Great Naruto Bridge!"

The villagers watched the outlines of Team 7 as they disappeared into the horizon, returning to Konoha.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Violence really isn't the only way to resolve a conflict, but it's the only way to win it."

- Strangers With Candy


	11. Konohamaru's Crush

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 11: Konohamaru's Crush_

When Team 7 got back to Konoha, everything turned into a huge mess, and it all landed right into Kakashi's lap. Deciding that the well-being of his team took priority over everything else, he took them over to the hospital to get checked out. It didn't take long for things to deteriorate from there.

The medics looked at Naruto first, and almost immediately declared him fit and ready for duty. Just by looking at him, you wouldn't be able to tell he had been injured with a poisoned weapon in the face. He had no scar, or even a single scab. Kakashi sent him home, and he sped off without taking a look back, eager to do whatever the hell it was he did around the village.

Hinata went next. Kakashi told the medics that she had been put into a temporary death state almost a week before, and they seemed to get into a tizzy over it, fussing over her and checking every single pressure point on her body. Apparently unsatisfied with not finding anything wrong with her, she was sent into a back room with a female medic-nin, where she would most likely have to strip and be thoroughly examined. After almost half an hour she was grudgingly released, also declared perfectly healthy. Kakashi sent her home, too, and she left without complaint.

Sakura went next, and the medics looked at her stomach wound. It was healing fine, probably faster than normal thanks to Sakura's ninjutsu. And that was the problem. When they found out that Kakashi had taught her medical ninjutsu, they hit the roof, calling him insane and irresponsible and threatening to report him. Kakashi took all of it in stride; as long as Sakura was okay, that was all that mattered. And she was okay. But the medics weren't finished with them yet. They forced Sakura to promise that she wouldn't use her jutsu unsupervised ever again, on herself or anyone else. They told her that she ought to go to the hospital every day for some tutoring until she was certified, which she promptly agreed to. Kakashi was forced to sit there and agree with everything they said, lest he be detained even longer. Finally, after what felt like several hours, they were both released. Sakura headed home, and Kakashi made his way to Hokage Tower.

He was given an immediate audience with Sarutobi, who was still trying to figure out just what the hell had happened in the Land of Waves. Kakashi had to explain the story from the very beginning: the encounter with two Mist Chunin, the two battles with Zabuza, the injuries sustained by his Genin, and most importantly, the emergence of the demon fox.

Sarutobi took the news concerning the fox surprisingly well. He was intimately familiar with the seals the Fourth had used, and so he knew the nature of the fox's chakra.

"If anything, it's a relief," said Sarutobi, puffing out a thick cloud of smoke. "Before, we couldn't be entirely certain what would happen if Naruto was pushed so far. The demon might well have been able to break free for all we knew. That's one reason the poor boy was persecuted, among others. The demon might have broken out without any sort of warning, or at least that's what the villagers thought. But now we know better. The fox is imprisoned within Naruto for good. Of course, theoretically, if Naruto were to willingly allow enough of the fox's chakra to seep through, the seal would weaken enough to allow the demon to escape. But I doubt that the boy would do such a thing, especially since it would result in his own death."

"A strange thing happened while we were in the Land of Waves, Lord Hokage," said Kakashi.

"Stranger than what already happened?" asked Sarutobi, smiling. Kakashi, however, was not feeling very charitable.

"Yes. Hinata Hyuga described a very strange dream to me."

Sarutobi snorted. "She's going through puberty, Kakashi, you can't possibly take her dreams seriously!" It seemed incredibly funny to the Hokage, but Kakashi had his doubts about that excuse.

"This is different," he insisted. "She dreamed about the nine-tailed fox, without having prior knowledge of the creature." Sarutobi stopped laughing.

"How can you be sure that she hadn't heard someone else talking about it?" he asked seriously.

"She told me herself, and I don't see any reason for her to lie about that."

"Many children already know about the demon fox as it is, Kakashi," he said, sighing. He unconsciously adjusted his headdress. "Some parents tell their children about the disaster and chaos it caused, while others would just as soon pretend it never existed. I know a few people who credit the loss of so many shinobi and the Fourth Hokage to some mysterious unnamed war, to prevent any questions in the future that they would prefer were left unanswered. It is perfectly fine to talk about the fox if you wish, but the decree strictly prohibits to mention that Naruto is the container. Some villagers, unfortunately, see the decree as a rough guideline, and blatantly call the boy foul names such as 'demon' and 'kyuubi.'" He sighed again.

"And the girl?"

"Does she know that her teammate is the container?"

"No."

"Then it is nothing to worry about. She obviously heard about the fox from somewhere, and she was curious about it. Answer any questions about it she asks you… just so long as you don't reveal that single vital piece of information, of course."

"Yes, Lord Hokage," complied Kakashi. Something seemed a bit fishier than the Hokage thought it was, but he kept that opinion to himself.

"And speaking of the girl, did you find out what happened to your two Mist friends after they were retrieved?"

"No, I sort of forgot about them. I just figured you stuck them into prison."

Sarutobi blew out a cloud of smoke before continuing. "One of them is dead," he said simply. "He was dead before we could carry him back to Konoha. By all appearances, he was killed by a Byakugan user."

"What? But I felt his pulse on site, he was fine!"

"Well, he didn't stay fine. It turns out you've got a couple of killer kunoichis on your team, Kakashi."

"I… I don't think I should tell her. I don't think that she'd react to it very well."

"Do whatever you like," said the Third, waving a hand in dismissal. "She's your problem, not mine."

"Er, right." Kakashi bowed his head, and turned to leave.

"Ah, wait, I forgot to tell you," said Sarutobi suddenly. Kakashi turned around. "Your C rank mission has been upgraded to an A rank."

"But the mission has already been completed. That's irrelevant."

"Yes, but you haven't been paid yet, nor has it been placed on record. I think Naruto will quite pleased when he finds out that he officially has one A rank mission under his belt, not to mention the… considerably increased payout."

Kakashi actually grinned. "You're right, Lord Hokage," he agreed. "I don't think he'll mind that at all."

88888888

Hinata walked down the strange valley. It was shaped like an enormous crater, and was filled with water. She had never seen it before. There was a large waterfall off in the distance, adding water to the basin, and two enormous statues faced each other on either side of it. She was walking on the water. She knew that it was possible for ninjas to walk on water, but she hadn't learned how to do it yet. Nevertheless, she was walking on it as easy as if it were solid ground. A deep feeling of dread began to gather in the pit of her stomach, but she continued walking forward, towards the waterfall. In some far off corner of her mind, she knew that this was a dream, but it felt incredibly real.

As she approached the base of one of the statues, she suddenly saw two people. They were both on the shore. One of them was crumpled to the ground, and struggling to stand. The other stood in front of the first, arms crossed. Hinata couldn't see what gender they were, but she automatically assumed both were male. They seemed faceless, instead being represented and identifiable by colors. The one on the ground was a bright red-orange, while the one standing was purple.

"Why do you continue to fight, fool?" said Purple as she drew nearer.

"Because… I'm bringing you back with me…" groaned Orange. He slowly, agonizingly, rose up to his full height.

"You're pathetic," scoffed Purple. "You have proven yourself useless and incompetent. You've only made it this far because you had friends to help you. But now that you have no one to hold your hand, you won't make it any further."

"I'm taking you back with me… Even if you make me break every bone in your body!" Orange sounded infuriated. Purple laughed.

"You expect me to feel frightened by your empty threats?" Purple asked mockingly. "You've thrown everything you have at me. You have grown, certainly. But I'm not the same person you used to know. I'm now more powerful than you can imagine. You have thrown all of your best skills and abilities at me, and they're useless. This battle is over."

"You're wrong," said Orange. The agony was absent from his voice now, instead filled with what sounded like confidence. He slammed his hands together in concentration, as if concentrating his chakra. Suddenly, he grew a brighter shade of orange, and he became engulfed in flames. Purple looked stunned, and took a step back from Orange.

"This battle isn't over," continued Orange. "In fact, now it can truly begin!"

Hinata woke up as suddenly and abruptly as if someone had slapped her face. It was morning now, a few days after Team 7 had returned from the Land of Waves.

What kind of dream had she just had? What was that strange valley? And who were those two ninjas? She had never had this dream before. It hadn't left her terrified, as her other dream had, but it certainly left her wanting to know more. Add that to the fact that she wasn't even close to completely figuring out her first dream, and she was one confused girl.

88888888

"Hey Boss, wake up!" someone yelled in Naruto's face. He fell out his bed, landing on the ground with a thump. Who the hell…? He looked up to see Konohamaru standing in front of him, arms crossed. "Naruto Uzumaki," he said, pointing down at him, "I officially appoint you as the leader of the Konohamaru Ninja Squad!"

"The… what?" asked Naruto, confused. What the hell was he babbling about?

"The Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" repeated the boy. "The most elite team in the Hidden Leaf Village!"

"If you say so," said Naruto. He yawned and groggily stood up. "Why are you here, anyway?"

"I have a mission for you, Boss!"

"Really? What kind of mission?"

"To find the crimson four-leaf clover!"

88888888

Naruto got out of his pajamas and dressed himself as Konohamaru started eating some breakfast. He then slipped on his headband and tied the knot in the back, holding it in place. Grinning, he started flexing and posing in front of his mirror. "So, how many members do you have in your ninja squad?"

"Umm… me and you," answered Konohamaru from the kitchen.

"What?!" He was the leader of nothing? He ran to the kitchen, angry at being fooled. "You should have told me it was just a little game!" he shouted in Konohamaru's face.

"This isn't just some game!" he said adamantly. "An extremely important, A rank mission needs to be completed!"

"Oh, that's right… you said something about finding the crimson four-leaf clover… Why are you looking for something like that, anyway?"

Konohamaru looked down at his plate, the hint of a blush on his cheeks. "Well, you see… There's this girl at the Ninja Academy that caught my attention. Her name is Kaede Yoshino. She's really pretty and has a great personality and, well, you get the idea. But… I found out that she's moving away today, this very afternoon! I overheard her and her friends talking yesterday, and I found out that the thing she desires most before she leaves is the crimson four-leaf clover, which only resides in the forbidden zone, Akagahara."

"Konohamaru, you like that girl, don't you?" Konohamaru's face had turned very red. "So, you want to make that girl's wish come true, huh?"

"Yes!" said Konohamaru. He got down on his knees before Naruto. "You're the only one who can help me with this! Please!" he begged. Naruto walked over to Konohamaru and kneeled next to him.

"So it's a real mission?"

"Yes!"

"Okay," said Naruto, standing up. "I'll do it!"

"Thank you!" cried Konohamaru, running up to Naruto and hugging him. The two then hurried out and headed for Akagahara.

88888888

"Why is Kakashi-sensei so late!" yelled Sakura. He was always late! Why did he do this to them? Did he enjoy it or something? They were told to wait in the same place, over and over again. On the small bridge over the stream running through Konoha. But Kakashi never showed up! She turned to Hinata, looking for some support and agreement. But Hinata was acting rather peculiar this morning, staring at the ground and pushing her index fingers together nervously. "What's up with you, huh?"

Hinata whipped her head up in surprise. "Um, nothing," she responded quickly, sounding embarrassed. "I was just thinking, was all."

"Well whatever it was, you were thinking about it pretty hard!" said Sakura. Hinata was a great teammate and friend, but sometimes…

A flash of orange caught her eye as Naruto came running up the bridge, his little friend Konohamaru beside him.

"Good morning, ladies!" he called out cheerfully, waving. He stopped in the middle of the bridge next to both of his teammates, and started jogging in place. Konohamaru followed the lead of his 'Boss,' red in the face and panting as he pumped his short legs up and down.

"I need to go to Akagahara for a special mission!" he continued excitedly. "I'll try to get back before Kakashi-sensei shows up. If I don't cover for me, will ya? Take care!" He took off running again.

"Take care!" Konohamaru repeated, and ran alongside his mentor. The two were soon out of sight.

"A special mission?" asked Sakura, confused.

"Akagahara?" asked Hinata, shocked. "But that's the forbidden zone!"

Sakura sighed inwardly. Knowing how much Hinata worried about Naruto along with the blonde's tendency to do incredibly dangerous and stupid things, the kunoichi was going to die from a heart attack before she turned forty.

Kakashi decided to arrive at that precise moment, appearing on one of the beams over the bridge, _Makeout Paradise_ in hand.

"Sorry, guys," he said. "I got held up by an old lady who needed some directions."

"Liar!" Sakura yelled angrily, pointing up at him. Naruto was usually down there with her, yelling at Kakashi as well. He must have noticed this, and hopped off the beam to stand before Sakura.

"Where's Naruto at?"

"He mentioned something about a special mission," said Sakura, rubbing her chin.

"A special mission?" asked Kakashi. "I didn't hear anything about that."

"Yeah. He said he was going to Akagahara."

"Akagahara?" asked Kakashi, his visible eye wide in shock. However, he quickly went back to his normal expression and crossed his arms, leaning forward. "If that's the case… Then Naruto's going to die for sure." Sakura grimaced, and Hinata gasped. It looked like she would be getting her heart attack a bit earlier than forty, after all.

88888888

"_By order of the Hokage, all ninja are banned from entering this area. FORBIDDEN._" That's what the sign on the chain-link fence read.

"So this is Akagahara," said Naruto, grinning. "Cool!" He and Konohamaru leaped onto the top of the fence, careful to not get cut by the barbed wire.

"There it is!" said Konohamaru excitedly, pointing to a field of red at the foot of a small mountain. "If we go there, we should be able to find a crimson four-leaf clover."

"Well, it looks easy enough," said Naruto confidently. He hopped off the fence… and fell into a giant hole concealed in the ground. Sharpened bamboo sticks lay at the bottom, ready to pierce anyone who was foolish enough to fall into the trap. Naruto quickly latched onto the edges of the pit with all four of his limbs, slowly sliding to a stop. Konohamaru peeked down from above.

"There's a bunch of traps here," he called down. "This is where they staged the Chunin Exam at least once!"

"Why couldn't you have told me that before!" yelled back Naruto angrily. He had heard about the Chunin Exam. It was how Genin were promoted in rank, and Chunin were allowed to receive much more dangerous missions. It was also one step closer to becoming Hokage. The Exam was supposed to be incredibly difficult and deadly… But how else would they be able to weed out losers like Sasuke?

Naruto concentrated his chakra to the appropriate body parts, and leaped out of the pit. "Come on," he called out to Konohamaru. "We've no time to lose!" He started running in the direction of the red field. Almost immediately, he set off a tripwire, which triggered a bunch of rusty kunais to be shot at him from a concealed location in a nearby tree. They headed straight for him, but he simply jumped into the overhanging branch of a tree right above him… Setting off another kunai trap, making him jump once again to avoid another bunch of kunais, red with rust from age. He continued jumping from tree branch to tree branch, setting off one kunai trap after another. At least Konohamaru, who was trailing behind him, wasn't in as much danger anymore.

After several hours of going around in circles, desperate to avoid setting off more traps, the two made it out of the forest and into a small clearing. Glad at having finally escaped the forest, they went in a blind sprint towards the field, unwittingly plowing straight through a minefield. Explosions took place all around them, as they frantically ran left and right to avoid getting blown to pieces.

"We're gonna die!" screamed Konohamaru. "Why don't you try thinking things through before you run intro a death trap, huh?!"

"It was your stupid idea to come here!" Naruto yelled back furiously. The exploding mines rocked the earth, and the deafening booms made him feel slightly hard of hearing. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he cried out, creating a dozen clones. He wasn't really sure if they would come in handy, but maybe they could hit a mine that he would otherwise have activated. The clones fanned out, and the ensuing explosions made it feel like the world was blowing up.

Naruto and Konohamaru were catapulted into the air by a particularly violent blast.

"Idiot!" yelled Konohamaru. "What's the point in causing more explosions?!"

"It seemed like a good idea!" Naruto yelled back. The two sailed through the air before landing with a thud in the crimson field. They both landed on their faces, and were left dazed for a minute before they got to their feet. A white statue rested in the middle

"We made it!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "There must be thousands of crimson clovers here, all we have to do is find one with four leaves!"

"It must be a miracle of love!" Konohamaru said passionately, tears streaming down his face.

The duo began to frantically search through the red field, looking for a four-leafed clover. They looked at every single clover, knowing how easy it would be to miss one with four leaves. Konohamaru began getting desperate, ripping out clumps of clover and tossing them into the air.

"It's hopeless!" he wailed. "At this rate, even if we find one, we probably won't make it out in time to see Kaede before she leaves!" He flopped onto his back and stared up at the sky, imagining Kaede's face.

"You idiot!" said Naruto angrily, looking down at him. "Stop being such a baby!"

Konohamaru got up into a sitting position. "But, Naruto…"

"Never give up! Ever!" Naruto said.

"But… What should we do?"

"Look for it! Look for it as hard as we can! We can worry about the consequences some other time. But you'll never get Kaede her clover if you just sit here crying!"

Konohamaru grinned. "Okay," he said, nodding his head. They continued looking for it, desperately combing through every inch of the field. Konohamaru eventually made his way to the white statue, and looked into the square opening on the bottom. Inside was the four-leaf clover he'd been searching for. "I found it!"

"What?!" said Naruto. "You found it?!" He ran over to Konohamaru, who was trying to grab the clover but couldn't quite reach.

"I can't reach it!" he said in dismay. His fingers were incredibly close, only a few inches away from the stem.

Naruto walked over to the side of the statue and pushed on it, trying to get it to tip over so that Konohamaru could reach the clover. The statue was very heavy, and it was taking a lot of effort just to get it to move at all.

"I can almost reach it…" Konohamaru said in a strained voice, trying with all his might to be able to reach just a little bit farther. Naruto pushed against the statue with every ounce of his strength, baring his teeth as he felt his arms throb in protest.

_Just a little more…_ he thought to himself.

Konohamaru finally wrapped his fingers around the stem of the clover and ripped it out of the ground. "I got it!" he cried out in triumph, holding the precious clover in the air.

"You did it!" said Naruto, relieved. He let go of the statue, and it fell to the ground. "Huh?" He looked down at it curiously, and Konohamaru did the same. With a fearsome grinding noise, dozens of wooden puppets with glowing blue eyes suddenly climbed out of the ground, tearing up the field of clovers. They surrounded Naruto and Konohamaru, forming a circle around the two.

"What are these things?!" Naruto cried out.

88888888

Kakashi, Sakura, and Hinata stood at the foot of the fence guarding Akagahara.

"Ah, this sure brings back memories," said Kakashi, grinning. The two Genin looked up at him. "I took the Chunin Exam here," he explained. More precisely, he took the second stage here, but that wasn't important. He pulled out a pair of binoculars and surveyed the field. "It looks pretty wasted," he commented. "It looks like Naruto set off all the traps. And all of the puppets have been activated, too. Replacing the statue should deactivate them, though…" He removed the binoculars from his face and looked down at the Genin. "But I guess this will be good training for you two."

"What?" asked Sakura. He didn't mean…?

"Here's your new mission," Kakashi said, raising a finger. "You two must go rescue Naruto and Konohamaru!"

"Well, I guess it will help make us stronger…" murmured Hinata, looking up at he fence. "And Naruto could be in serious danger, too…" Sakura silently agreed. They couldn't just stand by and do nothing, and it would be good training.

The two Genin leaped over the fence and set off for the red field, as Kakashi stayed behind to watch.

88888888

The puppets slowly closed in on Naruto and Konohamaru. Naruto looked around, trying to find a gap, but there was none. Konohamaru trembled beside him.

"Konohamaru, I'll take care of them," Naruto said. "Run away when you get the chance."

"But you can't fight them all by yourself!" said Konohamaru, looking up at him. One of the puppets suddenly charged Naruto, attempting to slash him with one of its sword-like arms. Naruto blocked the attack with a kunai.

"Just go!" he yelled. "Don't you want to see Kaede?" He pushed the puppet's sword-arm down and kicked it in the face, sending it flying backwards. Two more charged him, and he quickly punched one in the face and kicked the other in the chest, sending both of them flying through the air.

"Naruto… Why are you risking your life for something like this?"

Another puppet tried to stab Naruto, and he had to block again with his kunai. "You told me that this was an important mission!" he responded. "And a ninja always completes the mission!" He punched the attacking puppet in the chest, throwing it back. "And I swear that I won't let you get hurt!" he cried out passionately. A bunch of puppets suddenly charged him from behind. Before he could react, he suddenly heard what sounded like a war cry, and Sakura descended on the puppets feet first. She took them out with a single kick, and wooden limbs went flying in multiple directions. She leaped again so that she was standing next to him and Konohamaru.

"Sakura?!" he asked, bewildered. "How did you get here so fast?"

"You already set off every single trap on the way here!" Sakura answered impatiently. Naruto felt himself blush with embarrassment. Hinata joined them, forming a complete protective circle around Konohamaru. All of the Genin had kunais out, ready to fend off the puppets.

"Naruto!" said Hinata urgently. "Someone needs to push the statue back up, it's the only way to get rid of these puppets!"

"If we have to fight all of these puppets, we're gonna get ourselves killed!" Sakura added.

"Did you here that, Konohamaru?" Naruto asked, turning to his friend. "Put that statue back up!"

"Is that a mission?" Konohamaru asked.

"What?" asked Naruto, confused.

"Is it a mission, Boss?" repeated Konohamaru, grinning.

"Yeah, it's a mission!" said Naruto, catching on. "Get it done!"

"You got it, Boss!" said Konohamaru. He ran to the white statue and grabbed it by the edge, trying to lift it up. The surrounding wooden puppets moved in, their fearsome limbs waving around in the air.

The three Genin punched and kicked at every puppet that drew near. Naruto's best efforts looked dismal compared to his teammate's, though. Sakura, from time to time, would punch a puppet with enough force to turn its chest into sawdust, and Hinata was using her Gentle Fist Style very effectively, hands fluidly striking in every direction and knocking down a puppet with the slightest tap.

Konohamaru lifted up the statue enough to push his back against it, and he continued his efforts to lift it. His feet were leaving scuff marks against the field, trying to push off from it so many times. He ground his teeth in frustration, and sweat began to gather on his forehead. He had to put the statue back, before it was too late! He drew in a deep breath and tried again to push off the ground.

The fight dragged longer and longer, with the Genin getting more exhausted with each passing minute. The puppets just kept coming. Naruto lost count of how many he'd taken down, and the useless puppets lay on the ground in piles.

Even Hinata and Sakura, who were good at conserving their chakra, were beginning to show signs of fatigue. Sakura could no longer punch straight through a puppet by now, and Hinata's attacks were getting slower and slower.

_We can't give up…_ thought Naruto. He dodged an incoming sword swipe from a puppet and then punched it in the face. _I can't let my friends down again…_ He desperately reached for energy reserves deep within himself, determined to not give up the fight.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he yelled, creating as many clones as he possibly could. The clones were more numerous than he had summoned in a long time, maybe fifty or more. He had created them, but he was now completely exhausted. The shadow clones continued fighting ferociously, having inherited their creator's drive and determination.

Sakura and Hinata were given a brief time to take a breather before they had to fight again. Eventually, though, all of the shadow clones were destroyed in a puff of smoke, and the puppets began to close in once more. The three Genin prepared themselves as the puppets got closer and closer. How much longer could they keep this up? The puppets charged, and Naruto tensed himself. However, just before they got near enough to attack, their blue eyes stopped glowing, and they all collapsed to the ground in mangled heaps.

Naruto turned back to look at Konohamaru. He was resting against the side of the upright white statue, looking exhausted. "I did it," the little boy panted.

The three Genin sighed in relief. Without warning, one of the puppets suddenly reared its head and shot a rusty kunai straight at Naruto. He looked at it in shock, unprepared to move out of the way. He was spared the trouble by Kakashi, who suddenly appeared in time to snatch it out of the air.

The three blew out another sigh of relief. "Good job," Kakashi told them, tossing the kunai to the ground. "Mission accomplished." He walked up to them.

"You could have helped, you know!" said Sakura angrily, to which the Jonin merely shrugged. Naruto laughed out loud, relieved at still being alive.

"Do you have it?" he asked turning to Konohamaru.

"Yep. Look!" He proudly held it up in the air for all to see. Even as he held it up, one of the four leaves fell to the ground, causing both him and Naruto to scream.

88888888

It was in the late afternoon, just before Kaede was to leave. Team 7 was standing at the gates of Konoha, watching Konohamaru present the four-leaf clover to Kaede.

"I brought you this," Konohamaru said to his crush, handing her the crimson four-leaf clover. They had managed to glue the fallen leaf back on before they got back, but it was a sloppy job. "You can make a wish with it now."

Kaede, a girl around Konhamaru's age with dark blue hair and shining green eyes, took it from him. "Konohamaru, you got this for me?" She looked at it and smiled, then pressed it to her chest and closed her eyes to make a wish.

"Will that really grant a wish?" asked Sakura.

"I'm not sure," responded Kakashi. "Back in my day, Genin would go into Akagahara with dreams of becoming the best ninjas in Konoha. Eventually, returning with a crimson four-leaf clover became synonymous with having your dreams come true."

"So… It doesn't work?" Naruto asked disappointedly. His shoulders slumped and he sighed. "We worked so hard, too…"

Kakashi laughed. "Yeah, but it served a purpose. Now, you three all know how important teamwork is. If just one of you had been out there, you would have lost. But since Sakura was there to save you Naruto, you didn't. And since Hinata was able to reach out and take down any puppets you missed, none of them got Konohamaru. And since Naruto used his Shadow Clone Jutsu, he was able to give all of you some time to rest and prepare yourselves, saving you from exhaustion. The simple truth is, if a single one of you were missing, the whole team would fall apart at the seams. It's something I've been telling you about since the first day we've met, and now you can see that I'm right."

Naruto understood exactly what his sensei was talking about, and nodded his head. Maybe, besides helping Konohamaru, he had learned something important today, too. When he reflected on their past mission in the Land of Waves, he realized that teamwork had saved all of them. He and Hinata against Haku… Sakura throwing that shuriken to help them… It all made sense.

"Kaede, it's time to go!" called a woman's voice. Kaede looked down sadly, and Konohamaru began to cry.

"Ah! It didn't work like it was supposed to!" He grabbed at the goggles on his head. "It must have been that stupid leaf!"

"No, Konohamaru," said Kaede, grinning. "I got my wish."

"Huh?"

"Because, if I have this, it will be like always having a part of you to have with me," she said, blushing. Konohamaru began to blush as well. "Thank you Konohamaru," said Kaede, and leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. "Bye…" She began to walk away to where her parents were waiting. Konohamaru was left standing there, as if in a daze. Kaede's carriage began to rattle down the dirt path away from Konoha, and he stared at it as it left.

Naruto grinned. Now, Konohamaru would have to give Naruto credit for getting him his first kiss, too.

"Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you three," said Kakashi.

"Huh?" said the Genin in unison, looking up at him.

"The Land of Waves was upgraded to an A rank mission by the Hokage. So, not only can you three rightfully brag about that, but the money you guys'll get has tripled."

"Yes!" said Naruto, ecstatic. "Now even the Third Hokage knows that I'll take his place someday! And I get to eat three times as much ramen, too!"

Hinata giggled, while Sakura just sighed and rolled her eyes. Naruto, however, did the math in his head and suddenly realized just how much money he had got. He realized that he should do a bit more than just spend it on himself. Kakashi had a point, after all. He'd be nowhere without his teammates.

He turned his gaze on Sakura and Hinata. _I wonder…_

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The next day, Hinata was walking back towards her estate when she suddenly heard her name being called out. Curious, she turned around, and saw Naruto running as fast as he could to catch up with her. He was holding something in his hand, and the sun's light glinted off of it. "Hinata, wait up!" he called again.

She felt herself blushing. Naruto had actually come all this way just to find her? What was that in his hand? She felt rooted to the spot, and patiently waited for Naruto to catch up with her.

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Sakura got up from her bed and yawned. Her arms and legs were still very sore from fighting those puppets. However, everytime the pain felt unbearable she just concentrated on all the money she'd received and what she'd spend it on. She could buy some more clothes, and replace her torn shirt. She smiled at the thought of that. She dressed and brushed her teeth, then helped herself to some breakfast. She was learning to take her time in the morning now, since Kakashi never showed up when he said he would.

Eventually, she made it out the front door, but was stopped by a large, flat package in the way. It was wrapped in brown wrapping paper, the type you got at the post office. If it was on her doorstep, then it was probably for her mother. She picked it up and brought it into the kitchen. She laid it on top of the counter, and got ready to leave again. However, the white tag on it suddenly caught her eye, standing out against the brown paper.

_For Sakura_, it read. _From your secret admirer._

She sighed when she read it. The sloppy handwriting could only have come from one person she knew. _When will he learn to give up?_ However, she decided to open it up anyway, tearing off the brown paper. She gasped when she saw what it was.

It was a beautiful painting of a cherry blossom. Just by looking at it she could tell it must have cost a fortune. Naruto must have blown at least half of his pay on buying it. That was something awfully generous, especially for him…

As if she were being controlled by somebody else, she walked back to her room to hang it up. She moved some of the useless posters taking up space on her walls, trying to find a place to put it. Eventually, she decided on placing it on the free space right above her bed. She stepped back and looked at it, satisfied.

This was highly unusual for her. She would never,_ never_, have put something that Naruto had given her in such a personal spot. She had never suspected she would, either. But something seemed different about this. He had selflessly spent a bunch of money (money he could have used to buy ramen) to get her something so beautiful. On top of that, he didn't even want to take credit for it, writing down "Your secret admirer" instead of his name.

If anyone came to her house and asked about it, she would just say that she had bought it herself. If anyone found out that it was a gift from Naruto, it would be embarrassing.

She left her house after hanging up the painting, and made her way over to the bridge. She got there before Naruto and Hinata, and was left waiting there. She wondered what she should say to him. Should she thank him? Or should she pretend that she didn't know it was from him? He hadn't signed his name, after all. She was still trying to decide what to say when Naruto and Hinata both came up towards the bridge together from the opposite way she had come. They appeared to be deep in conversation, with Hinata keeping her gaze on the ground and Naruto waving his hands in the air frantically. Something on Hinata's chest was shining, reflecting the sun's light. As they got closer, Sakura could see that it was a necklace. It was round and made of copper. There was a swirl pattern inside of the circle. It was an artistic image of the sun.

_So, he got something for her too…_

They got onto the bridge and walked close enough for Sakura to hear what they were saying.

"… It was seriously an accident," Naruto was saying, sounding worried, as if Hinata were accusing him of a crime. "You know I didn't mean it, right?"

"Yes, Naruto, it's okay…" sad Hinata, sounding sad. They abruptly stopped talking when they reached Sakura, as if it was a secret she wasn't in on. To Sakura's puzzlement, Naruto didn't even look at her once. She had been expecting him to try and see how she had reacted to his gift, but he was acting as if he had completely forgotten about it, and her.

"Umm, that's a very pretty necklace, Hinata," Sakura said. "Where did you get it?"

Hinata blushed. "Naruto got it for me," she said quietly. She didn't look at either her or Naruto, choosing instead to concentrate on the little stream flowing underneath the bridge. She took the necklace and dropped it under her collar, as if she didn't want it to be seen, and no more questions would be asked about it. Naruto wasn't looking at either of his teammates, and was rubbing his hands on his jacket nervously.

"Naruto… thanks for the painting," Sakura said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I… I really like it." Naruto spared her a glance.

"Uh, sure Sakura," he said. He then looked away from her again, and continued rubbing his hands.

_What's up with him?_ Thought Sakura curiously. This wasn't how Naruto normally acted. And Hinata wasn't really acting very normal, either.

Almost two hours later, Kakashi showed up, _Makeout Paradise_ flipped open in his hands.

"Sorry, you three," he said, waving. "I got held up on the way here when I saw an old man trapped in a gutter; it took me almost an hour to get him out."

His excuse got no angry response from the Genin. In fact, they all acted as if they had barely heard him.

"Um, right," said Kakashi uncomfortably, pocketing his book. "Let's get started on our mission…"

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Ah, that was a cute chapter, wasn't it? I sort of fleshed it out so that it would have some important parts in it, and further the plot. Now, the next arc can begin.

**Quote of the Day:**

"We are here on earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, I don't know."

- W.H. Auden


	12. Freakshow

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 12: Freakshow_

It was now almost a week after that strange morning, and Kakashi made his way over to the bridge, late as usual. Ever since that day, Team 7 had been acting very strangely. They seemed to talk to each other only when it was absolutely necessary, as if something very uncomfortable had occurred between them. The few times that Hinata actually did speak were reduced to none, and Naruto was not his rowdy self. Even stranger, the two would send each other strange looks from time to time, as if something had happened between them specifically. They never once made eye contact or spoke to each other, at least as far as Kakashi knew.

Sakura would sometimes ask one of them a question in an obvious attempt to start a conversation, but all she received were one-word answers. Usually she just gave up trying, and remained in silence for the remainder of the day. Kakashi had been tempted to ask what was going on, but he ultimately decided to let the Genin figure it out for themselves. He had a strong suspicion that this had something or other to do with the love triangle in the team; what exactly had transpired, he could only guess, but it seemed the most likely cause for this drama. He had a feeling that if he intervened and tried to force them to get over it, the situation would only grow worse.

Making his way to the usual meeting spot, he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't even pulled out _Makeout_ _Paradise_ to read on the way there. He eventually strolled up the bridge, and was surprised to see his Genin there, sitting down and huddled in a circle. What were they up to? He wondered hopefully if all his worrying had been for nothing, and the team had found a resolution for their problem. Curious, he approached closer without announcing his presence.

All three of them had playing cards in their hands, with a pile of coins and paper bills in the middle. His three Genin were…playing poker. He walked up to stand next to Sakura, who was closest.

"What on earth are you guys doing?" he asked. The Genin all looked up at him in surprise; Sakura nearly jumped in alarm. However, she quickly recovered.

"What does it look like we're doing?" she asked grumpily, settling back down. He looked down at the cards in her hand, and realized immediately why she wasn't in the best of moods.

"You shouldn't be gambling away your money," he advised, eying the currency they had placed in the middle of their small circle.

"I know that by now!" said Sakura, furious. "I've just lost almost a quarter of my pay to Naruto!"

Seemed she'd been getting bad hands all morning, then. "Ah, well, as long as you three aren't playing strip poker…" he said out loud. From what he could see of Hinata's face, it looked like the idea had made her blush; Naruto snorted and shook his head, while Sakura made a retching noise.

"Never!" she exclaimed.

"Why _are_ you guys playing cards, anyway?" asked their sensei.

"Well, you're never here, so we figured we'd do something to pass the time," said Sakura irritatedly.

"Hm," he murmured thoughtfully. Outside of missions, it was apparent that the three never spent any time together. While he believed that gambling with money wasn't a good habit to get into, playing a game like this could be an effective team building exercise. He decided to let it be. "Well, what you do while you wait for me to arrive is up to you," he said. "But we've got missions to do, so start packing it up." Sakura threw her hand of cards to the ground in disgust, muttering something. She clearly hadn't been expecting to win.

The three began picking through the pile of money, or pot, reclaiming the money they had contributed to it and replacing it into their wallet or purse. It seemed the cards belonged to Naruto, as he put the deck back together and replaced it inside of a small box he had been keeping in his pocket.

Hinata had remained completely silent the entire time, not adding to the conversation and silently sliding her hand of cards towards Naruto so he could put it away. And as usual, Naruto didn't acknowledge her, choosing instead to stare at her cards as he put them in the box. He didn't speak to her or even look at her. There didn't seem to be any animosity aimed at his teammate, but it was uncharacteristically cold of him. Kakashi's worries began to resurface, but he pushed them away.

The day progressed without incident after that, the team spending their time completing a sizable list of D rank missions until it was afternoon. To Kakashi's disappointment, the day turned out just like any of the others that had occurred in the past week. If anything, it was even worse; not even Sakura tried to start any conversations. Perhaps she had decided that attempting it would be pointless.

The day seemed to drag longer than normal for Kakashi, who had the constant temptation to pull either Naruto or Hinata aside and ask what was wrong. But he was already sure about what kind of responses he'd get. Naruto would angrily deny everything (even if he wasn't really being accused of something), and Hinata would probably clam up and start mumbling.

_They're_ _growing up and learning_, he reminded himself. _If I intervene for every little thing, they won't be able to figure things out for themselves later on_.

And so the day ended, missions complete. Team 7 walked down an empty street in the outskirts of the village, all of them following the same path for the time being to reach their homes. Kakashi had _Makeout Paradise_ flipped open in front of him as he strolled, but he had a hard time concentrating on it. It was several minutes before he realized he was reading the same sentence over and over again without really understanding it. He sighed and put the novel back in his pocket.

As he did so, he happened to look up into the sky and spot a hawk gliding over the village, squawking repeatedly. _What?_ he thought to himself. _Now?_ What message could the Hokage have for the Jonin? He realized that he'd have to ditch his team immediately, since the hawk message was essentially a drop-everything-and-run order.

"I'll see you three later," he said to the Genin. "I need to hand in my report on today's missions."

"Whatever," said Sakura. She still sounded grouchy, but at least she was talking. Kakashi looked at his three Genin with a scrutinizing gaze one last time before taking off, heading straight for Hokage Tower.

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Reaching a fork in the street, Hinata began walking away from her teammates, looking like she was in a hurry; Naruto glanced at her retreating back and turned away, as if determined to not even look at her. Sakura observed their odd behavior with exasperation and annoyance. She had no idea what had started this, but she had grown tired of it very quickly.

She wasn't entirely certain that she could call either of her teammates her friends. Upon first returning home from Wave Country, it had very much felt as if they were; they would continue spending time with each other after their missions had concluded, grabbing something to eat, talking about any random topic, and laughing at the stupid jokes they came up with. It was the first time Sakura had had that sort of fun ever since she had broken up her friendship with Ino.

She had found herself growing closer to both of her teammates. The disgust she had felt for Naruto for so long hadn't taken very long to melt away, and as Hinata slowly emerged from her shell and participated in their conversations more and more often, she began to fully appreciate what a pleasant person she was. Contrary to her initial impressions, Naruto wasn't a drooling moron—he had a quick wit when it came to jokes and thinking up pranks—and Hinata wasn't a snobby, spoiled clan heiress who considered her teammates to be beneath her—she was simply an incredibly shy introvert, and it was clear that she held a great deal of respect for both Naruto and Sakura.

And then, all of a sudden, the fun came to an end, inexplicably replaced by tension and drama. Perhaps more than anything else, this struck Sakura as profoundly unfair. It was as if fate had decided to show her a glimpse of what it was like to have friends, and then snatch them away from her, all for a laugh at her expense.

Turning to peer down the street Hinata had taken, Sakura decided that she wasn't going to put up with it. Leaving Naruto's side, she began following after her dark-haired teammate.

"Hey, Hinata!" she called. "Wait up!" Hinata stopped dead in her tracks, one foot hanging in the air for a second before she set it down. Her shoulders were tensed, as if those words had reminded her of something terrible. However, Sakura couldn't see anything terrible about "wait up, Hinata." She quickly caught up to the dark-haired kunoichi.

"Yes, Sakura?" asked Hinata politely.

"Hinata, I was wondering, could we talk?" asked Sakura, plastering a grin on her face. She didn't want to give Hinata the impression that she wanted to interrogate her. "You know, just some girl talk. We could grab some lunch or something." Sakura felt her grin slipping as she looked into Hinata's unresponsive eyes, and began to worry that she had approached this the wrong way; she had no real idea what kinds of things Hinata enjoyed doing. Though she was loathe to admit it, she knew her "people skills" were not particularly sharp. "Shopping could be fun too," she hastened to add, sensing that Hinata was about to refuse. "Or we could go get our nails done. I don't have anything going on today, so whatever you're in the mood for." She flashed her teammate another grin.

"No thank you, Sakura," said Hinata in a quiet voice. "I… I want to be alone right now." With that, she turned away from Sakura and continued walking.

"Uh, sure…" said Sakura, left feeling stupid. Turning to look in the direction she had left Naruto, she narrowed her eyes. Whatever had happened _must_ have been his fault. There was no way someone as sweet and caring as Hinata could be the cause for trouble; Naruto must've said or done something awful to her. Deciding to leave Hinata alone, she returned to the street where she had left her other teammate.

To her surprise, he was talking with Konohamaru and two other little kids, who had all seemingly appeared from thin air during her short absence. One of them, a girl with red hair done up in tall tails, looked like she had a permanent blush on her cheeks. The other one was a boy with glasses and a sleepy look on his face, and his nose seemed to be perpetually runny, with him constantly wiping it with his sleeve. All of them were wearing goggles, apparently in an attempt to mimic their idol.

"…I see you've got more members in your squad by now," Naruto was saying.

"You got that right, Boss!" said Konohamaru excitedly. "Pretty soon, I'll have enough to form a platoon!" Naruto chuckled. Sakura walked up to him and tugged on his sleeve, trying to get his attention.

Naruto turned to look at her with a grin on his face, but it disappeared almost as soon as he saw it was her. He didn't seem very happy about having to talk to her.

"Hey," said Konohamaru, pointing up at her. "I know you! You're that one chick!" Sakura felt her face flush in anger at Konohamaru's choice of words. The little boy turned back to Naruto. "Is she the one girl you've told me about?"

"No," said Naruto, shaking his head. "This is Sakura. I was talking about Hinata Hyuga." Konohamaru rubbed his chin, apparently trying to remember something, already forgetting about Sakura's presence.

"Hyuga, you say? Hmm…" He remained in a state of deep concentration for several moments, before his face split into a wide grin and he snapped his fingers. "Hyuga, yes! There's a girl in my class named Hanabi Hyuga!" He seemed proud of himself for remembering her name. "I wonder if they're related."

"They have the same last name, dope. Of course they're related." Naruto sounded exasperated. Konohamaru's face flushed.

"Er, yes, of course. I mean, I wonder if she's her little sister or something. That would be kind of cool."

"Cool? How?" Naruto asked, confused with Konohamaru's logic. The little boy just shrugged.

"I don't know," he admitted sheepishly. "It just would be, I guess." Naruto sighed and shook his head. Sakura grew annoyed and jerked on his sleeve again, harder this time.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, turning around to face her. He looked irritated with her for bothering him. She leaned in towards him, close enough so that their foreheads were almost touching.

"We need to talk," she hissed in his face, glaring at him. "Now."

"For what?" asked Naruto, annoyed. He returned her fierce glare with one of his own. Growing angrier, she grabbed him by the collar.

"Because I said so," she said menacingly.

"Last time I checked, Kakashi was our team leader, not you!" said Naruto angrily. Sakura felt like punching him in the face, but Naruto reached up and grabbed her wrists. His grip was surprisingly strong, and his nails bit into her flesh, causing her to yelp in pain and release him.

"You little midget!" she snarled furiously, balling up her hands into fists.

"I'm not in the mood for this, Sakura," Naruto snapped at her. "If you wanted to talk to me, you could have been nicer about it!"

"I tried being nice about it for a whole week!" she retorted. "Now stop being such a baby and tell me what's going on!"

His expression growing angrier, he looked like he was about to shout at her, but Konohamaru ran up to his side and tugged on his jacket, worry all over his face.

"Hey, come on Boss," he said. "Let's try and calm down now." Naruto looked down at him, then turned his back on Sakura.

She continued glaring at his back, but slowly unclenched her fists. As much as she was tempted to, she couldn't start beating up Naruto, not in front of these kids. Plus, he was her teammate, after all…

"You know what?" said Naruto to Konohamaru and his friends. "Let's go get some ramen. I'll pay for all of us." The three kids cheered.

"Right! Now you're talking, Boss!" said Konohamaru happily. They began to head for the ramen shop, with Konohamaru running ahead. Fuming, Sakura followed them; she wasn't going to let him get away. Even if she had to follow Naruto all the way back to his apartment, she was going to find out what the hell was going on.

"Konohamaru! Slow down!" Naruto called, breaking into a jog to catch up with him. The little boy turned his head back to taunt Naruto as he rounded a corner.

"Catch me if you—_oof_! " He crashed into something and fell to the ground with a cry.

"Konohamaru!" Naruto rounded the corner, Udon, Moegi, and Sakura in tow, to find Konohamaru at the feet of two strange people. One of them, a boy, was sort of pudgy and had strange purple designs painted all over his face. He was wearing all black, with a funny headdress that looked like it had bat ears. A large object, completely wrapped up in cloth, was hanging from his back.

The other one, a blonde, was wearing a pink suit over a thin metal mesh suit that hugged the outlines of her body. Her green eyes were cunning and observant, and her hair was done up in four separate tails. She had what appeared to be an enormous metal fan strapped to her back in a manner similar to her companion. Naruto felt an immediate distrust of both of them.

Konohamaru had apparently crashed into the boy, and he lay on the ground, whimpering in pain. Both of the strangers looked down at him.

"Do you need something?" asked the boy coldly.

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"Ah, thanks for your latest report, Kakashi," said Iruka, taking the paper Kakashi had handed him. He sat behind a desk in one of the offices, where several other ninjas were lounging around. He took a look at the report before setting it down. "So, how's Naruto doing?" he inquired. "Is he getting along with his teammates okay?"

"Well… I suppose one could say that," responded Kakashi uncomfortably.

"Your team's been getting quite a few missions lately," said Iruka, scratching at his cheek. "Probably to make up for all the missions you put off when you went to the Land of Waves. In fact, I haven't seen Naruto once since he got back."

"You know how he is, Iruka," said Kakashi. "Probably spending all his free time training… It might have been good that you placed him in a team with two kunoichi, after all. He feels a strong sense to protect them, even if they don't really need it. That gives him the drive to always better himself, to make sure that he doesn't let them get hurt. In fact, he might one day catch up with his biggest idol… You."

"Heh heh… Really?"

"Yep. Now, if you don't mind, the Hokage has sent his message for a special meeting. I better get there as soon as possible. I only stopped here because it was on the way."

"A special meeting, huh?" Iruka looked intrigued. "I think I'll come, too, and see what's going on."

"Whatever suits your fancy," said Kakashi, shrugging. They both left the office and headed for where the Hokage would be waiting.

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The boy in black picked up Konohamaru by the collar, lifting him up over his head so that his short legs would dangle in the air.

"So, does this hurt you little punk?" he sneered.

"Put him down, Kankuro," said the blonde, hands on her hips. "Or you know you'll pay for it later."

"Relax, Temari. We have a few minutes before _he_ gets here, so let's have some fun with these punks," Kankuro said, uncaring about whoever "he" was. Their Jonin sensei, perhaps?

"I'll make you pay right now!" yelled Naruto furiously. "Put him down!"

Sakura glanced at him, worried. Would he vent all of his anger on these strangers now? Who were these guys anyway? Kankuro looked at Naruto from the corner of his eye, giving him a scrutinizing glance. It looked like he was trying to size him up.

"Put me down, you jerk!" Konohamaru yelled angrily, kicking at Kankuro's thick chest.

"You're feisty," said Kankuro, smirking. He tightened his grip on Konohamaru's collar. "But not for long."

"Put him down!" Naruto demanded again, enraged. He charged at Kankuro. The strange boy glanced at Naruto and extended his free hand towards him. He moved his fingers as if he were trying to tickle the air—or pulling an invisible string. Naruto suddenly tripped as if a rug had been pulled out from under his feet, landing on his back with a cry of surprise.

"So you're the Leaf Village's Genin," he sneered. "It looks like your whole village is full of wimps!"

_What the hell was that?_ thought Naruto as he scrambled back up. _It felt like a fishing rod latched onto my foot and he just yanked on it… What kind of attack was that?_

Sakura glanced at him with a raised brow, and nearly sighed out loud. _Trust him to trip on his own feet in the middle of a fight_, she thought with exasperation. As he began climbing back to a standing position, she looked at the strangers carefully, and noticed their headbands for the first time. _They're foreigners_, she realized. _From Suna, the Village Hidden in the Sand. What business do they have causing trouble over in our village?_ She wondered if the best course of action would be to go find an adult; picking a fight with these two wouldn't be the same as fighting fellow Leaf ninjas.

"Konohamaru!" cried out Moegi and Udon, frantic. Naruto pointed at Kankuro furiously.

"Let him go you idiot, before I beat the crap out of you!" he shouted.

"You're the idiot, Naruto!" Sakura hissed angrily. "We don't know what this guy can do, you can't just charge straight at him!" Naruto turned to glare at her.

"I'm not going to let him hurt Konohamaru," he growled. Seeing the resolve in his eyes, Sakura felt like groaning; she had no clue how strong this foreign ninja was, but she knew a klutz like Naruto wouldn't stand a chance. If he tried attacking again, she knew she'd have little choice but to intervene in some way or another, lest he receive a serious injury. Kankuro turned back to the boy in his hand, who was still trying to kick him.

"You're all annoying," said the Sand ninja arrogantly. "And I especially hate little kids and weaklings. So when I see a little punk like you shooting your mouth off, it makes me want to break you in half!" He gripped Konohamaru even tighter, causing the child to scream and his little friends to start crying. Sakura stood rooted to her spot, torn by indecision; though she was growing more certain by the second that she should go find help, she didn't want to abandon her teammate, and she feared what might happen in her absence. Naruto, for his part, looked like he was ready to try charging Kankuro again.

"Fine," said Temari, sighing. "But I'm not involved with any of this, okay?"

"Heh, so I'll just deal with this little wimp, then move on to the bigger wimp over there!" Kankuro cocked his fist, ready to strike Konohamaru.

_That asshole_, thought Naruto frantically. _He's really gonna do it! I've got to get to him before he hurts Konohamaru!_ He ran at the boy once more, as Sakura gasped and tried to reach out and grab his sleeve. His feet pounded on the ground furiously as he charged Kankuro, who lowered his fist a fraction of an inch, presumably to hit Naruto with his strange attack again.

_That attack… I've got to dodge it before he gets me with it again! For every attack, there's got to be a counterattack to it, right? _Drawing ever closer to Kankuro, he suddenly had an image from a past memory flash in his mind, that of their first battle with Zabuza.

_Zabuza swinging his blade at Kakashi, but the Jonin nimbly jumping into the air to avoid it, completing the counterattack by kicking the enemy ninja in the face…_

Naruto surged in speed, desperate to get to Kankuro before it was too late. The boy smirked and lowered his fist completely, then moved his fingers again as if he were trying to tug on a small string. He presumed Naruto to simply be trying the same tactic all over again.

Naruto abruptly leaped into the air, putting some spin into it as he did so. As he had hoped, he felt no yank on his foot; whatever that strange jutsu was, he had successfully dodged it. He spun in midair, leg extended. As he made a full revolution and turned to see his opponent, he got the satisfaction of seeing Kankuro's astonished face as he descended upon him. He clearly had not predicted Naruto to figure him out so quickly, if at all.

Naruto's foot connected with Kankuro's face with a loud _crunch_ in a crushing blow, causing his head to snap backwards; it felt like his nose gave way and broke. The boy howled in pain and released Konohamaru, who fell to the ground and quickly scampered towards his friends.

Kankuro stumbled backwards, clutching his nose and screaming out in pain. His headdress fell to the ground, revealing a mess of brown hair underneath. Temari looked from him to Naruto and back again, a shocked look on her face; Sakura's reaction was virtually identical.

"There's more where that came from, you fat tub of lard!" Naruto shouted indignantly, pointing at Kankuro. He felt exhilarated at having actually pulled off the attack, and struggled to keep from grinning. While his attack might not have been pulled off as expertly as Kakashi's, he liked having done something cool to back his statements up for a change. Kankuro looked up at him, blood streaming from his nose and his eyes shining from tears.

"You think you're pretty tough, don't you punk?" he choked out furiously, his voice sounding slightly nasal. With some amusement, Naruto could see that his kick had messed up the boy's makeup. "Well, let's see how tough you really are!" He grabbed the strange package off his back and set it down on the ground with a _tok_. It was faintly human in shape, and had what looked like a bunch of hair sticking up at the top. It looked sort of like a mummy with hair, if such a thing was imaginable.

"Kankuro, don't tell me you're going to use the _Scarecrow_ for something like this!" said Temari worriedly, reaching out to grab his shoulder. It was almost exactly like Sakura had been with Naruto moments before.

"Kankuro," called a mysterious voice from a nearby tree. "Don't." It sounded low and threatening. Kankuro's fierce glare was immediately replaced by an expression of terror. Naruto looked up at the tree in shock to see a young ninja standing on a branch, hanging upside down. He was dressed in robes, and had a large gourd on his back. How long had he been standing there? Only Kakashi moved that quietly, or so Naruto thought.

"H-Hey, Ga-Gaara…" said Kankuro nervously. "I was just, heh…"

"You're a disgrace to our entire village, Kankuro," said Gaara. Naruto craned his neck to get a better look at him; he had dark red hair and pale skin. His eyes had dark circles around them, as if he had had very little sleep recently; it reminded Naruto of a raccoon. It also looked like Gaara had some kind of symbol tattooed on his forehead, though from this distance Naruto couldn't make out what it was.

"I can't believe that you'd lose yourself in a fight with children," Gaara went on. His voice never became emotional, even though he was clearly angry. It was creepy. "Have you forgotten why we came here?"

"But Gaara, they started it!" Kankuro argued, pointing at Naruto and his friends. "You see, I was just—"

"Shut up, Kankuro," interrupted Gaara menacingly, "or I'll kill you." Even from this distance, Naruto could see the sinister look in his eyes.

"Er, right," said Kankuro anxiously, raising his hands up slightly. "I was totally out of line, sorry."

Gaara disappeared from his spot on the tree in a whirlwind of sand, and reappeared in front of Naruto, who had trouble hiding his astonishment. He'd only ever seen ninjas teleport in puffs of smoke. "I'm sorry for any trouble he might have caused you," the boy said. Naruto looked at him in surprise. He certainly didn't look like the apologetic type. "You're…not bad," he went on. "Not many people catch on to Kankuro's style so quickly… Of course, it might just be that he's an idiot." If Gaara didn't look so emotionless when he said it, Naruto would have assumed that he was joking. But it looked like he really did hold the other boy in contempt.

"Er, no problem," Naruto said, feeling uncomfortable under Gaara's gaze. The mysterious ninja turned back to look at his companions.

"Let's go," he commanded. He sounded like the boss without even having to raise his voice.

"Wait!" Sakura called, taking a step towards the Sand ninjas.

"Yes?" asked Gaara, slowly turning back around to face her.

"You're all from the Hidden Sand Village," she stated. This was news to Naruto; he looked at all their headbands carefully and found a strange foreign symbol of an hourglass instead of the familiar leaf symbol. "Officially, the Land of Wind is one of Fire's allies," Sakura continued. "But the Treaty of Alliance forbids you to enter our boundaries without proper authorization. So state your business!"

Had watching Naruto kick the crap out of Kankuro given her confidence to speak so commandingly? She certainly hadn't been talking like that when the Sand ninja held Konohamaru hostage.

Temari snorted. "Have you guys been living under a rock or what?" asked the girl, sounding smug. "I've heard the saying that it's always darkest at the base of the lighthouse, but seriously…" She reached into her pocket and pulled out an ID card. "We have permission. Of course we're Sand ninjas from the Land of Wind, as you correctly guessed. We're here for the Chunin Exam. Get the picture?"

"The Chunin Exam? Already?" Sakura asked, puzzled. Why didn't any of the Leaf Genin know about this? Naruto glanced back and forth at the two with confusion, wondering what on earth they were talking about.

"Ugh. You really are quite the idiot, aren't you?" asked Temari, annoyed. Naruto got the impression that if it weren't for Gaara, she'd be the team leader.

A dangerous look flashed in Sakura's eyes as her expression immediately grew outraged. "Why, you…" she glowered at Temari furiously, clenching her hands into fists. Naruto looked at his teammate with concern, knowing from experience that she didn't take insults lightly. He wondered if she would charge at the girl and start beating her, and began to grow worried; if Temari's teammates tried to defend her, Sakura would probably end up putting them all in the hospital. And if these ninjas were foreigners visiting for official business, then a lot of trouble would almost certainly end up coming down on both Naruto and Sakura for hurting them.

Fortunately, his teammate was able to control herself, and continued to merely glare at the Sand kunoichi. Temari looked at her and laughed.

"Well, it'll be a pleasure seeing you in the Exam… Both of you." She turned to look at Naruto and winked, then turned around to leave with her teammates. He blinked in confusion. What was that about?

Kankuro shuffled over to his headdress and placed it back on his head, glaring at Naruto one last time before he took off with his team, Gaara in the lead. Sakura angrily kicked a rock on the ground as soon as they disappeared, unwilling to lose any more of her dignity in front of Temari.

Naruto felt a tug on his jacket, and looked down to see Konohamaru grinning up at him.

"Boss, you're the greatest!" he exclaimed. "You totally kicked that guy's ass!" Moegi and Udon ran up to him as well, glorifying him and making it seem like he had single-handedly taken out a hundred enemy ninjas.

"Actually, I kicked him in the face, heh heh…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed at all the praise. "C'mon, guys, who's still up for some ramen?"

The three children cheered and they all headed off for Ichiraku's once more, though none of them ran in the lead.

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"All right," said Sarutobi before the gathered Leaf Jonin, sitting behind his table. "Seeing who I have summoned here, I'm sure you can all guess as to why I have called this meeting. The Chunin Exam is soon to commence."

"The Chunin Exam?" asked Kakashi. "When does it begin?"

"In approximately one week," answered Sarutobi.

"One week? That's awfully short notice."

"Indeed it is," agreed the Hokage. "Unfortunately, mission schedules made it difficult to gather all of the Jonin with Genin teams together for a single meeting. Today ended up being the first day where all of you were in the village." He paused to take a breath before continuing. "To make it completely official, I hereby announce that on July 1st, the Chunin Exam will start. We will now select candidates for the Exam, so to begin, would the senseis of the Rookie Nine please step forward?"

Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma Sarutobi stepped forward from the small crowd of Jonin.

"As you know, the minimum requirement for a Genin to take the Chunin Exam is eight missions. Past that, it is up to each individual sensei to decide whether their students are ready. It usually takes a much longer amount of time than any of your Genin have had, however. So, Kakashi, you go first."

Kakashi raised his hand up to his face, pointing two fingers upwards. "I lead Squad Seven," he proclaimed. "Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Sakura Haruno. I, Kakashi Hatake, recommend all three of these Genin for the Chunin Exam."

"And I lead Squad Eight," said Kurenai, raising her hand in front of her face the same way Kakashi had. "Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka, and Shino Aburame. And I, Kurenai Yuhi, recommend all three of them for the Chunin Exam."

"And my squad is Team Ten," said Asuma, also raising his hand to his face. "Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara, and Choji Akimichi. I am equally as certain that all three of them are ready for the Chunin Exam."

"I see…" said Sarutobi. He was somewhat surprised that all three of them had decided to enter their teams; he hoped they all really were confident their students were ready for this.

"Lord Hokage, please allow me to speak!" said Iruka suddenly, interrupting the proceedings.

"What is it, Iruka?"

"All of the Genin just named were my students while at the Academy. Doubtless, they are all unique and gifted, but they're still just children! Even if they were to somehow miraculously pass, they're still too young to become Chunin! I know that none of them can shoulder that much responsibility!" It looked like Iruka was about to have some kind of fit. "Only age and experience will allow them to reach that level of maturity," he continued. "These Genin will be destroyed by the Chunin Exam, and I don't know why none of you can see that!"

The three Jonin exchanged looks of annoyance with each other. Iruka was overstepping his bounds; he couldn't possibly know what kind of progress the Genin had made. Besides, how could he be so sure that the Chunin Exam beyond their ability to cope with? Sasuke had seen his parents killed right in front of him, then been subjected to an endless torment from his brother's Mangekyo Sharingan. Naruto had been shunned and unloved for nearly all of his life. Choji had to deal with being teased and bullied for most of his childhood. Hinata had to live with a disapproving father who criticized her for everything. If they could make it through a lifetime of that, the Chunin Exam would be only a minor inconvenience for them.

"Iruka, need I remind you that I was only six years old myself when I became a Chunin? Half the age of any of the Rookie Nine?"

"They're not like you!" yelled Iruka. "They've never seen someone killed in front of them! They weren't born with so much innate talent, and they've never had to fight for their own survival!"

"I beg to differ, Iruka," replied Kakashi calmly. "Besides, even if I'm wrong, breaking them would be fun, don't you think?"

"Are you insane?" Iruka asked furiously.

"I was just joking, Iruka," said Kakashi, sighing. "I understand that you have the children's best interests at heart. And I'm sorry if my decision upsets you, but I stand by it regardless."

"But…!"

"In any case, it's really none of your business, Iruka," Kakashi went on. "They are not your students anymore, they are shinobi, soldiers at my command. You would do well to respect that."

Iruka continued to glare at the three Jonin angrily, but provided no further argument. Sarutobi sighed.

"I am fully aware of the inexperience of the Rookie Nine," he stated. "So I have decided to stage a sort of preliminary test for all of them." He knew for a fact that Team 7 was probably the most capable Genin team in Konoha, contrary to Iruka's worries. He tried hard to not let his gaze slide towards his son, Asuma. If any team was the weakest, it was most likely his.

"A…preliminary test?" asked Kurenai curiously. "I've never heard of such a thing."

"I'll tell you all what I have in my mind…"

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Hinata stumbled through the woods that bordered the Leaf Village. She wasn't heading for any one spot in particular, but she continued as fast as she could. She needed to be alone, she had to get as far away from everyone else as possible. She had bottled up her emotions all week, and now she felt herself going crazy. She couldn't take it anymore. Naruto ignoring her all week after what happened, her dreams… She simply couldn't handle the mixed up, pent up emotions stirring within her. She had snapped. She had to release somehow…

She stopped at the foot of a large tree and screamed. Her knees buckled and she collapsed to the ground. For what must have been several minutes, she screamed and sobbed and cried for all it was worth, until her throat felt hoarse. She stood up again and leaned up against the trunk of the tree, feeling an overwhelming sense of depression and hopelessness.

"_Is it that bad to even touch me_?!" she screamed at the uncaring sky. "_Am I really that terrible_?_ Do I disgust Naruto that much_?" Without thinking, she suddenly began punching the trunk of the tree furiously, sobbing as she did so.

Her fists became a bloody mess, but she could barely feel any pain. She continued punching as hard and as long as she could, until it felt like she could hardly move her fingers. When that happened, she collapsed to the ground again, a mess. Tears streamed down her face, blood was all over her hands and arms, and she felt sick.

_I'm nothing but a talentless loser_, she thought to herself. _That's all they think I am. That's all anyone thinks I am. I need other people to protect me, and all I ever do is hold my team back. And they're right. I'm nothing but a weakling and a coward.  
_

Bringing her sobbing under control, she shifted into a sitting position, resting her back against the tree, its bark now coated with her blood. _I'll prove them all wrong_, she thought. _I'll get better. I'll make myself better. I'll show Father that I'm worthy of being the heiress. I'll show Naruto that I'm worthy of his respect. I'll show Sakura I'm not a little girl she needs to take care of. I'll show all of them what I can do._

With renewed determination, she forced herself to stand up, and she began to wander back towards the Hyuga Estate. She wiped her tears away with the sleeve of her jacket, and shoved her bloody hands into her pockets, hoping she'd get the chance to clean them up before anyone else saw them.

_Now, about getting better…_ she wondered, realizing that she didn't have any sort of plan. _Where __should I begin?_

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Naruto, Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon, and Sakura all sat at the booth of Ichiraku's Ramen Shop. Konohamaru was chatting with his friends about something or other as they all ate ramen, while Sakura silently sat next to Naruto, barely touching her food. Naruto, meanwhile, was busy finishing off his fourth bowl.

Sakura glanced at her teammate, deep in thought. "Naruto…" she suddenly murmured, catching his attention.

"Hmm?" he inquired, his mouth full of noodles. He slurped them all up noisily and swallowed them. "What is it?"

"I…you…back there…" She was unsure how to put her thoughts into words.

"Huh?" asked Naruto, confused.

"You…back in Wave when you said you wouldn't let your friends get hurt, you really meant it, didn't you?" she managed to ask him.

"Of course I meant it, Sakura," said Naruto seriously. "You thought I was lying when I said it?" Sakura stared down at her untouched bowl of ramen.

"No, I didn't," she replied. "It's just…you're willing to risk anything to keep your word, aren't you?"

"Yup. Better believe it!" He raised the bowl to his lips and drank the broth inside of it, only setting it back down when he was done. Sakura gazed at him curiously. Whenever everything was okay, he talked about his commitments casually, as if they were some sort of game. But if he was put in a situation where he had to uphold them, it seemed he was willing to risk serious bodily harm, or worse, to protect his friends. She sighed and looked down again.

She had realized that her earlier suspicion must have been erroneous; there was simply no way Naruto would have done something to deliberately upset Hinata. And, considering that Hinata was equally unlikely to do anything that would offend Naruto, Sakura was again left unable to guess what could have happened between the two. Exhaling loudly through her nose, she decided to just ask him directly, and turned to look at him.

"Naruto, what happened between you and Hinata?" she asked. She observed his reaction. Sure enough, the grin slipped off his face and was replaced by a somber look.

"I…" Why was he so reluctant to tell her what had happened? "Look, something happened that really shouldn't have, and if she's anything like you, she's probably mad at me."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Sakura interrupted, indignant. After their encounter with the Sand Village ninjas, she was more touchy than usual, regardless of whether the insults were real or perceived.

"Like that!" he said, his cheeks turning pink. "Except when you're mad, you don't try to hide it, everyone can tell right away."

"Forget it," she said, holding up a hand before he could continue. Telling herself that he hadn't meant to offend her, she adopted a milder tone before speaking again. "This isn't about me. _What happened_? Did you get in an argument with Hinata or something?"

"No," he said, averting his gaze to focus on the empty bowl in front of him.

"Then what happened?"

"I…knocked her over," he mumbled, his cheeks turning a darker shade of red. Sakura expected him to go on, but he fell silent, and she raised a brow.

"You knocked her over," she repeated slowly. "And…?"

"And that's it," he said, still refusing to look her in the eyes. "I tripped and knocked her over."

"Don't lie to me, Naruto," she said, losing her patience and struggling to keep her voice neutral. "What really happened?"

"That is what happened!" he replied, turning to face her again. His cheeks were still burning, but she caught the look in his eyes and realized that, unlikely as it seemed, he was being truthful.

"Okay, so you tripped and knocked her over," she said, still skeptical. "Did you apologize?"

"Yeah, the first thing I did was apologize!" he said. "I, uh…don't think an apology's enough, though."

"Why wouldn't it be?" she asked. "You obviously didn't hurt her."

"It's not that I hurt her," he said, shaking his head. "It's that…I'm sure I must've made her mad."

"Now you're hardly making any sense," she said. "I'm sure Hinata would've forgiven you if you really apologized. There's something you're not telling me."

"I told you the truth," he said adamantly. "Like I said, I know she must be mad at me, it's just that…she's not like you. When you're mad you yell and try to hit me. She doesn't do that, she just goes quiet. I guess different girls get mad in different ways? I don't know, I don't get you guys."

"Of course different girls will act different," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Everyone is different."

"Yeah, well, girls are more different than normal," he grumbled. "Just my luck that I'd get stuck in a team with two of them."

"You—That's your own fault!" Sakura said, her temper flaring back up. "If you had kept your stupid mouth shut, we'd have Sasuke on our team, not Hinata!"

"That'd be even worse than two girls," Naruto said. "But at least I'd understand him. I'd hate him, but I'd understand him."

"You really are unbelievable!" she said angrily. "You just end up complaining even when you get what you want!"

"Not if it's ramen," he replied. "Speaking of which," he said, turning his attention to Ichiraku, "I could use another bowl over here!"

Shaking her head, Sakura placed her hand over her face and sighed.

88888888

Leaping through the trees of the forest surrounding the Leaf Village, a boy in a green bodysuit silently landed in a secluded clearing filled with straw dummies; some time ago, his team had found this place, and decided to use it as a place to train in private. Just as he suspected, both of his teammates were there. One of them was ostensibly in the middle of some target practice, while the other was seated on the ground, presumably taking a break. Neither of them had any visible reaction to his sudden appearance, but he was certain that they had detected him as soon as he had arrived, if not sometime before.

"Did you hear the news?" he asked them.

"What news is that?" asked the kunoichi of the team, flipping a kunai over in her hand as she turned to look at him.

"The Chunin Exam is swiftly approaching, and I hear tell that Kakashi Hatake is entering his entire Genin team. They are all rookies, fresh out of the Ninja Academy."

"Hmm. It probably has to do with rivalry among the Jonin or something."

"_The_ Kakashi?" asked the second male of the team, a member of the Hyuga clan with lavender eyes and long, dark hair in a masculine ponytail. "The Jonin our sensei is so fanatical about topping? That certainly is interesting…" The kunoichi sniggered.

"And add them to the weird Sand Genin who waltzed in here like they owned the place, along with every single other talentless Genin from Fire's allies, and this is turning into a regular freakshow, isn't it?" She hurled the kunai in her hand at the target positioned less than half a meter above the head of the Hyuga, who sat unblinking as it hit the bullseye.

"Indeed it is," he murmured softly.

88888888

"Welcome to the Land of Fire, My Lord," said the young man. His voice had a cool, intelligent tone to it, with only a hint of sarcasm to mock the irony of the situation. Standing in the forest outside of the Hidden Leaf Village, tall trees shaded him and his companion from the late afternoon sun. "I apologize you aren't receiving a more…grand reception. Men of your stature are typically received much more warmly by this country's government. But alas…"

"There's no need for that, not here," replied the other man. His voice, in contrast, was slightly higher pitched, and his exasperation was clear. He removed the mask around his face, revealing the stark white color of his skin, and began removing the bulky clothing he had layered over his usual attire. "Have you made all the necessary preparations?"

"Yes, of course," answered the first man, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I sent messages confirming this. Weren't they received?"

"They were," affirmed the other man. "But I wanted to hear it straight from you."

"Rest assured, everything here has gone according to plan," said the first man. "How are things back at the capital? Will they miss you while you're away?"

"Arashi is taking care of things, and Kimimaro is helping him before he departs to join us here," explained the second. "Unfortunately, the meeting was impossible to postpone. Arashi promised to take care of it, but we'll see. I may wind up leaving suddenly, but it should have no impact on the plan here."

"Good, good," said the younger man. "Have you decided on an appearance yet? Lunch was a while ago, and I'm pretty hungry. Let's grab something to eat, and I can show you what's changed in the village since you last visited."

"Don't be so casual about this," hissed the other man sharply. "We're entering the the most sensitive part of the entire plan. The very last thing I need is for you to make a mistake and ruin everything—I've come too far to risk that. If you can't take this seriously, don't think for a second I won't send you back to the capital."

"Relax, relax," said the first man defensively, raising his hands slightly. "You'll have your revenge and your Sharingan. But right now, let's have some supper."

The other man threw the bundle of clothing in his arms to the ground and narrowed his eyes at his companion. "Very well," he said after a moment. Concentrating his chakra, he quickly became surrounded with a puff of smoke, and emerged with the appearance of a much younger man, although his skin remained unnaturally pale. "Lead the way."

With a smirk and a nod, the first man led them out of the woods and towards the village.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Do not hire anyone who has a weak handshake; a person who has a weak handshake is probably gay and might have AIDS; do not hire gay people."

- Electronic Data Systems recruitment policy


	13. Rock Lee's Challenge

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 13: Rock Lee's Challenge_

The three Genin sat on the bridge, huddled in a circle once again. Sakura looked at the cards in her hand, and wished she didn't have such terrible luck with poker.

_A two, a seven, a nine, a five, and a jack…_ she thought with dismay. She wouldn't be winning this time around. She held the cards close to her chest and looked at both Naruto and Hinata suspiciously, unwilling to let them spot her weakness. Naruto was getting lucky again as usual, annoying Sakura to no end, even though she had been smart enough to only make small bets this time around and simply fold when the stakes got too high. She cursed the day he had dug up that old rule book for card games and convinced his teammates to play with him while they waited for Kakashi. It had, at least, confirmed that Naruto knew how to read, which was something Sakura hadn't been too certain about beforehand.

Hinata was playing far more recklessly today for some reason, to the puzzlement of Sakura. Rather than checking and folding like she normally did, she raised the stakes pretty much everytime it was her turn. Was she turning into some sort of gambling addict or something?

And why were her fingers wrapped up in bandages? Had she got into a fight with some foreigners just like Naruto had? So many questions, so few answers…

"Well Sakura?" Naruto asked suddenly, intruding on her thoughts. "Do you call my bet or what?"

"Forget it, I fold," she said, not trusting her cards. She placed them facedown on the ground.

"What about you, Hinata? You gonna quit, too?" It was one of the only times that Sakura had heard Naruto speak to her. Something had to be done about that. Whatever it was that happened, they needed to talk it out.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm still in."

"Not anymore you're not," said a commanding voice suddenly. Kakashi had finally arrived. "This game's over, pack it up." Naruto and Hinata began recollecting their money and packing up the cards. Sakura quickly reclaimed the money she had contributed to the pot before Naruto could grab it, and then looked up at Kakashi from her spot on the ground; she noticed he was holding some papers in his hand.

"What are those for?" she asked curiously. Naruto and Hinata looked up as well. They all stood up and walked over to the Jonin.

"Oh, these?" asked Kakashi, holding them up in the air. "They're just application forms for the Chunin Exam. I found them on the ground on the way here, and wasn't sure what to do with them. But now that I see you three here…"

It took a second for Naruto to get it. When he did, his face split into a huge grin and he jumped onto Kakashi, hugging him.

"Thank you!" he cried out. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Hey, get off of me!" said Kakashi, annoyed, forcibly pushing Naruto away.

"The Chunin Exam? Really?" asked Sakura as soon as Naruto's feet were back on the ground. "You really think we can do it?"

"Yes," confirmed Kakashi, grinning underneath his mask. "I'm fully confident that all three of you have a good chance of passing the Exam." He handed out the forms to the Genin, who all read them with haste. It looked more like a legal waiver than an application form, warning them of incredible dangers and that by signing, the Hidden Leaf Village and the Land of Fire could not be held responsible for any personal injuries received.

Naruto's hands were shaking with excitement as he read down the page, thrilled at finally having a chance to prove himself in front of everyone.

"Entering the Exam is completely voluntary," Kakashi went on. "None of you should feel pressured into doing this."

For the three Genin, that assurance was unnecessary. They were all eager to join, for their own individual reasons. Kakashi might as well have been telling them that they wouldn't have to attend a free tour of a chocolate factory if they didn't want to.

"But if you do want to apply, make sure you report to room 301 at the Ninja Academy by tomorrow afternoon. Genin from various nations have all been gathering here to take the Exam, in case you haven't noticed. The competition will be brutal."

"Oh, we've noticed all right," muttered Sakura darkly, remembering her previous encounter with a certain Sand kunoichi.

"Well, that's it," said Kakashi. "No new missions are going to be coming for a while, with all the preparations taking place. So you can all just take the day off and, well, maybe _talk things out_, or something. You get the idea." He gave his Genin a salute and disappeared, leaving them confused by his comments.

They all turned and began to walk down the bridge rather aimlessly, not expecting to have the day off.

_Yes_, thought Sakura triumphantly. _Now I can finally show Ino who's gotten better once and for all…that is, if she's even good enough to apply! And that Temari hag, just wait 'till I get my hands on her…_

_I bet Sasuke is going to enter the Chunin Exam_, thought Naruto gleefully. _That snob thinks he's such a hotshot, there's no way he won't apply! Finally, I'll get to put him in his place in front of everybody who thought he was so great! Plus, I get to become a Chunin while I do it! It feels so great to be alive…_

_I have to take this Exam_, Hinata thought to herself determinedly. _I have to pass. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to prove myself…to my father, and to Naruto and everyone else!_

Absently saying goodbye to her teammates, Sakura split off and headed in a different direction, presumably towards her house. Hinata pocketed the form and began to head back to the Hyuga Estate. Suddenly, she heard Naruto's voice behind her.

"H-Hinata," he stammered. She quickly turned around to look at him, surprised. "C-Can I talk with you for a minute?"

_He wants to talk to me again?_ she thought, astonished. It took a second for the full reality of that fact to hit her. _He wants to talk to me again!_ "Naruto…?" she managed to say. "W-What is it?" Naruto's face turned red, as if from embarrassment. He slowly took a few steps toward her, until he was just beyond arm's length.

"I…" He gulped nervously, looking down at her feet. "I wanted to ask you…" He seemed to get even redder, and didn't continue.

"Ask me what?" asked Hinata softly. She could scarcely believe that they were finally talking again. After ignoring her for so long, why had Naruto suddenly come after her?

"I wanted to know… I had to find out…" He looked up and their eyes met; her breath caught upon seeing the intensity of his gaze, and she felt rooted to the ground, unable to blink or look away. "Hinata, are you still mad at me?"

Transfixed as she was, it took her a second to realize what he must be referring to. "M-Mad?" she asked, confused. "Mad about…what happened?" He nodded his head, and she shook hers. "No," she said. "No, I'm not mad…I was never mad at you."

"R-Really?" he asked, a relieved expression quickly growing on his face. "You weren't? Then why were you acting so weird for a whole week?" She forced herself to blink and look away, casting her gaze upon the ground as she stood silent.

"I thought…you thought I was disgusting," she finally answered. "…Or something. I thought you didn't want to talk to me. So I didn't say anything."

"You? Disgusting?" he asked, incredulous. "You…really thought I would think that about you?"

"I don't know," she replied timidly, fearing that she had said something wrong and offended him. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what to think." _Was it…was it all for nothing?_ she wondered to herself with dismay. _All that fear, all that worrying…for nothing? It was just…a mistake? A misunderstanding? If only I had talked to him… If only I weren't such a coward… _Her thoughts were interrupted as he spoke up again.

"I wouldn't ever think that," he said adamantly. "No way, not ever. I think…" His voice faltered, and his cheeks turned pink as he turned away to look off at something else before continuing. "I think you're…really pretty."

At these words, Hinata gasped silently, instinctively raising her hand to cover the lower half of her face as she took half a step away from him in shock. Despite having grown resistant to fainting spells thanks to all the time she had spent with him, her pulse quickened, and she felt herself growing light headed. She felt overwhelmed by a plethora of emotions; astonished, flattered, overjoyed, and humiliated seemed to take prominence. Her face flushed, and she averted her gaze, too embarrassed to look at him; after a moment, she realized that she had forgotten to breathe. Quickly gulping down a few erratic, uneven breaths of air, she resisted the temptation to swoon and collapse, and her mind worked furiously to come up with something to say to him in response.

"Y-You do?" she squeaked. His cheeks seemed to grow a darker shade of red.

"Well…yeah," he said.

"Th-Thank you," she managed to stammer in reply, though she could barely hear her own words over the beating of her heart. She struggled to find her voice so that she'd be able to compliment him in return. "I…I think…you're…I lo-like how you…you…" Unable to come up with a coherent sentence, she trailed off and fell silent; for a moment, she was terrified that she'd burst into tears right in front of him.

What followed were several moments of the most awkward silence either of them had ever experienced.

"So, um, we're still friends then?" he finally managed to ask, breaking the silence.

"Yes!" she answered immediately, looking back at him. She quickly blushed a darker shade of crimson and pushed her index fingers together as she looked away again. "Y-Your friendship means a lot to me," she went on in a quieter voice. "It…really means a lot."

"Oh," said Naruto, relieved. "Good." Another silent moment passed before he spoke again. "Do you want to, um, hang out or something? Not like a date or anything like that," he added quickly. "Just, you know…hang out."

"I-I… Thanks Naruto, but I really should go," she replied. As nice as the request sounded, she feared that if he ended up giving her another compliment, she'd cry, or faint, or do something else stupid; it had already nearly happened, and so far all he'd done was call her pretty. Even if she miraculously managed to keep from doing that, she knew she'd be unable to speak with him normally; he'd undoubtedly think she was some sort of freak, or else that she was incredibly rude. No, "hanging out" alone with Naruto was something she wasn't ready for, and would have to wait for another time. "I-I have something I need to do," she lied.

"Oh, okay. Later then, maybe?"

"M-Maybe," she said, and did her best to send him a grin. "I don't know though. I'm probably going to be busy."

"Oh, okay," he repeated. "So, uh, see you later then?"

"Y-Yeah," she replied. "I-I'll see you. Um…yeah. Bye."

Before he could say anything else, she quickly turned away from him and began walking away at a brisk pace. Staring after her uncertainly, Naruto turned around as well and began heading in the direction of his apartment.

88888888

Kakashi sat silently on the roof of a building near the Ninja Academy, patiently awaiting Iruka's return. Sure enough, a hulking Rain Village ninja suddenly appeared behind him. Kakashi turned around to look, and saw the ninja disappear in a poof of white smoke, Iruka standing in his place.

"Well?" asked Kakashi, curious as to how all the rookies did. The Third Hokage had decided to send off Iruka, disguised as a foreign ninja, to harass and threaten all of the Rookie 9 in an attempt to dissuade them from joining the Chunin Exam.

"All of the rookies passed the test," Iruka replied. He narrowed his eyes. "And the members of your team almost killed me!"

"Really?" asked Kakashi, laughing inside. "Didn't I tell you they were good?"

"Well, yes, but still…"

"How did you put yourself in such an undesirable position as to almost get yourself killed by rookie Genin?" Iruka raised three fingers.

"I kidnapped one of Naruto's little friends when he was playing ninja with them and held her hostage. He wound up tricking me with his Shadow Clone Jutsu, and would have beat me to death if I hadn't used a substitution." He ticked off one of his fingers. "Next, I went after Hinata, and threatened to hurt her little sister if she didn't deliver the village's secret scroll to me. She didn't bother feigning going to get it and tricking me, she just started whaling on me with her Gentle Fist. She took me by surprise, and I barely had time to get away before the illusion would have dropped and she would have seen who I really was." He ticked off another finger. "By the time I got to Sakura, I was worn out and beaten. So I just used a genjutsu to create a replica of myself. It didn't fool her for a second, she saw right through it. At that point I just left, there was nothing I could do or say that would frighten her if she knew I wasn't even there." He lowered his last finger and clenched his hand in a fist.

"Besides, I just learned from Sarutobi himself that both Hinata and Sakura actually killed three people on your first A mission. Naruto single-handedly defeated an ANBU-trained ninja. They should all be prepared to handle the rigors of the Chunin Exam." Iruka sighed. "They grow up too fast…" he murmured.

"All of them are capable of becoming Chunin," Kakashi stated. "Now, all they have to do is prove it to everyone else."

Iruka remained silent, wondering just how much things would change if Naruto actually became a Chunin.

88888888

"Hey Hinata! Sakura!" Naruto called, waving at his teammates as he ran towards the Academy entrance. They had been sitting there for some time, waiting for Naruto to arrive so they could officially enter the Exam. Hinata smiled and waved back, causing Sakura to do a double take. They were talking normally again?

Naruto reached them, breathless. He had run the whole way there. All three of the Genin had their forms filled out, and they walked into the Ninja Academy, making their way up to room 301. None of them talked about their encounter with a mysterious Rain ninja from the day before, none of them knowing that the entire Rookie Nine had had similar encounters.

As they ascended the building, they were suddenly confronted by a large crowd of people packing the entire floor, preventing them from getting any further. They began to quickly push and elbow their way through, angering some of the crowd members (Hinata, who excused herself and slid between and around people, took considerably longer) until the team reached a doorway blocked by two Leaf ninjas. They had no vests, and so must have been Genin.

One of them had a red nose and three bandages on his face, and had what appeared to be two scythes strapped to his back. He regularly made snorting noises, as if he had a cold. The other one wore a baggy shirt with a large collar, and had his entire chin colored black. A small sign above their heads read "_301_."

At the forefront of the crowd of people looked like another team of Genin. A kunoichi with a pink sleeveless suit and her hair done up in a pair of buns was standing to the right, and a boy with long dark hair pulled into a ponytail was to the far left. In the center, crumpled on the ground, was a boy with a green bodysuit and a soupbowl haircut, with thick eyebrows. His face was bruised and bloody, as if he had just taken a severe beating.

"Is someone as weak and talentless as you really planning on taking the Chunin Exam?" asked the Genin with the red nose. "Don't bother! You're just a bunch of snotnoses!" As if to emphasize the point, he made a loud snort.

"Tell me about it!" agreed his partner.

"Please, we're begging you, just let us in!" said the kunoichi. She began to walk towards the door, but the red-nosed Genin struck her with the back of his hand, sending her tumbling to the floor. The crowd murmured in shock as she stood up again, a large red mark on her face.

"Who are you guys kidding?" asked the sick Genin. "We're just trying to spare you! The Chunin Exam is incredibly difficult. We should know, we've failed three times!"

"Believe us," said his companion. "We've seen it all. There are Genin who have wound up crippled, others who became vegetables, and others who were mentally scarred for life."

"On top of that, being a Chunin is harder than you could imagine!" the first Genin went on. "Chunin lead their ninja units. In times of war, they're even expected to lead entire platoons of soldiers! You know how many people that is? Fifty! Can any of you kids even count that high?" He snorted yet again, as if he had a bad cold. "Imagine being responsible for the deaths of three kid ninjas, or fifty regular soldiers. Could any of you deal with that? I don't think so!"

"We're doing the Exam proctors a favor by weeding out the obvious losers beforehand," stated the second Genin, smirking.

"Ah, screw you!" shouted Naruto, waving his fist at them. "All of the crap you morons just said was on the application forms we all signed!" The two Genin guarding the door turned to him and glared, and the entire crowd behind him turned to stare at him.

"Yeah," Sakura agreed angrily, standing next to him. "And drop the genjutsu while you're at it. This isn't the third floor, and you're not Genin!" Folding her arms across her chest, she gave them a smug look as they glared at her.

"So, you figured it out," sneered the second not-Genin. Both of the ninjas were shrouded in a cloud of white smoke, and reappeared taller and in uniform, wearing vests. However many times they had actually failed the Chunin Exam was anyone's guess, but they had certainly passed it at least once. The sign above them distorted before their eyes, and came back into focus reading "_201_."

They stood proudly before the door, taking pleasure in intimidating everyone else. Naruto, however, would have none of that.

"Wipe those grins off your faces!" he yelled at them. "Now that you've gone and pissed everyone off, you'll be lucky if we don't all kick your asses!" The crowd behind him began to mutter darkly, narrowing their eyes at the two Chunin. Their grins slipped. Apparently, they hadn't realized that they were outnumbered at least ten-to-one.

"Shut your mouth, punk!" shouted one of the Chunin angrily. It was the one who used to have a red nose, which was now colored normally and had a cloth across the bridge. He dashed towards him, placing his hands on the floor and sticking his leg out in a kick aimed at Naruto's head. Without thinking, he let his trained reflexes take over. He swiftly dipped his head underneath the approaching foot, and it flew over him.

Things had happened so quickly that the attack and dodge appeared as little more than blurs to most of the people watching; Sakura, however, saw it occur as if it happened in slow motion, allowing her to see the vulnerable position the Chunin had put himself in. Without thinking, Sakura leaped into action to assist her teammate. In an unplanned, uncoordinated, and unpracticed maneuver, she grabbed hold of the Chunin's ankle before he could recall it; she yanked on it, using the Chunin's momentum against him, and using a little bit of chakra to increase the power of her throw.

The combination of all these factors sent the Chunin hurtling into the opposite wall; he crashed into it with enough force to put a crater in the drywall and rattle the nearby window. Slumping down to the floor, he groaned and rubbed his head; looking up, he saw that he was now surrounded by a group of angry Genin, all of whom glared down at him.

"Woah," Naruto muttered, standing back up to his full height and glancing between Sakura and the fallen Chunin. He barely had any idea what just happened; whatever it was, it was pretty cool and apparently Sakura was responsible for it. Placing her hands on her hips, it almost seemed like she was trying to strike a pose, with an incredibly proud look on her face.

"Dammit…" Naruto heard the second Chunin mutter. Several Genin grabbed the first one by his arms and hauled him to his feet, ganging up on him. The Chunin's eyes widened and he struggled against his captors, but it was no use. With his arms restrained, he couldn't perform any jutsu and was incapacitated.

"Hey, knock it off!" the other Chunin angrily demanded, but he was ignored. One of the Genin pulled his fist back, and threw it at the restrained Chunin's face.

Just before the fist struck him, a flash of green moved between him and the Genin. A bandage-wrapped hand shot out in a blur, grabbing the Genin's wrist and saving the Chunin's face from rearrangement. It was the kid with the soupbowl haircut.

All of his bruises had disappeared, and he looked like he had never been hit in the first place.

_He's fast_, thought Naruto. _I could barely see him move._

"That's not what we agreed, Lee!" said the boy with the ponytail. "Wasn't it your idea in the first place to conceal our abilities until later?" Naruto noticed, with no small amount of shock, that the boy's eyes were lavender and had no pupils. He was a Hyuga. He could hear Hinata shuffle behind him; he wondered if she was about to say hello.

"They are still concealed," Lee snapped, releasing the other Genin's wrist. "All everyone else knows by now is that I am faster than I look, and they likely barely noticed it until you had to bring it to attention!"

"Do you really expect no one to remember the speed which you just exhibited?" asked the Hyuga skeptically.

"I—" Lee suddenly stopped arguing with his teammate when he saw Sakura. His cheeks blushed, and he marched to her, back upright. The Hyuga sighed, and the kunoichi behind him shook her head in exasperation. No one noticed the two Chunin slink away before anyone else could take a potshot at them.

Sakura looked at Lee, eyebrow raised, as he approached her. His cheeks were redder than ever, and there was a grin on his face.

"Hi, I am Rock Lee," he greeted. "You are Sakura Haruno, right?" He gave her a thumbs up and winked, grinning wide enough for his shiny teeth to gleam in the light. "The ease with which you defeated that Chunin was most impressive! Please, be my girlfriend! I will protect you with my life!"

Sakura looked at him with a perplexed expression, as if he just said something in a language she couldn't understand. "I…what?" she finally replied.

"Please, be my girlfriend!" Lee repeated. "You would not regret it, I promise!"

"…What is this, some kind of joke?" she asked, her tone changing from confused to annoyed. "No way! I don't even know who you are!"

"As I said, I am Rock Lee—"

"And how do you know my name?" Sakura demanded.

"I learned it from—"

"Get lost, creep," Sakura interrupted, clearly not interested in even allowing him to explain. "I don't want some stalker for a boyfriend."

"Please, just allow me to prove myself!" Lee persisted, maintaining his bright smile. Sakura, however, crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned away.

"That's enough of your flirtations, Lee!" commanded his Hyuga teammate. Walking over in their direction, he placed a hand on Lee's shoulder, forcing him to turn away from Sakura; with a raised brow, he glanced over at Team 7. "You," he said to Naruto, looking at him thoughtfully, as if trying to remember something. "What's your name?" The blond grinned, beside himself. His skills were finally earning him some recognition!

"Naruto Uzumaki, and don't you forget it!" he declared proudly.

"Ah yes," the Hyuga said with a smirk. "I believe that rings a bell." His eyes slid over to Sakura, and he scrutinized her for a long moment; his gaze began to make her feel uncomfortable, but she stared back determinedly. Thankfully, he looked away a moment later.

As he gave Hinata a glance, Naruto expected one of them to say hello the other; he found himself curious as to whether Hyugas had a special greeting for each other. However, the boy only narrowed his slightly eyes and frowned. Saying nothing, he turned away from them and returned to stand beside the female member of his team. Naruto blinked in confusion, then glanced at Hinata. Her eyes were fixed upon the floor, her face pale, and she nervously played with the hem of her jacket. _Well, that was…weird_, he thought, unsure what to make of their behavior.

Rock Lee gave Hinata a look as well, though he didn't appear displeased by the sight of her. Instead, his expression looked curious. As Naruto looked at the rest of the Genin surrounding them, he started noticing all of the looks being thrown Team 7's way. Despite all the weirdness that had just occurred, he began to grin widely, gleefully soaking up the attention.

Doing her best to pretend Lee wasn't there, Sakura felt herself sitting in the same boat as Naruto; unused to receiving much recognition from strangers, she was tempted to stand beside him and let the crowd stare. Even Lee's creepy proposal was somewhat flattering: would he have approached her even if she had been standing there uselessly? She doubted it.

However, turning to peer at Hinata, she saw that her teammate was not having such a positive reaction to all the attention. Despite the fact that she had done nothing to earn the attention, she was standing close enough to Naruto and Sakura for the crowd to deduce that they were a single squad, and thus she received nearly as many stares as her teammates. Once the other Hyuga had left, her eyes darted about briefly, then returned to staring at her feet; her face was now slowly turning a bright red, and she appeared to be fidgeting slightly in discomfort. It looked like she wanted nothing more than to retreat into a dark corner. Unfortunately, surrounded by the crowd as they were, this was quite impossible.

Sakura reached out to tug on Naruto's sleeve. "Come on, let's go," she told him once she got his attention. His eyes expressed disappointment, and he looked tempted to pout, but he didn't struggle as she began leading him away from the center of the crowd. Reaching Hinata, she grabbed onto her sleeve as well, causing the girl to glance up in surprise. "We're getting out of here," Sakura told her. Cheeks still burning, Hinata nodded, and kept close to her side as she led her team away from room 201. This time, the crowd slowly parted before them, allowing the three to quickly and easily go back the way they had come. Finally escaping the crowd's sight, Hinata let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Returning to the first floor, they began heading for a different set of stairs when they suddenly heard Rock Lee's voice call down to them from the second floor.

"You there, Hyuga!" he called. Team 7 turned around to look up at him, and Hinata's face looked terrified at being singled out.

"Y-Yes?" she asked nervously. What could he want with her?

"You and me, here and now, would you care to spar with me?"

"…Huh?" Hinata looked absolutely petrified. "You want to fight _me_?"

"Yes!" answered Lee. He leaped down to the floor below, landing on his feet gracefully. "I challenge you, Hinata Hyuga!" he repeated.

"You moron!" yelled Sakura angrily. She'd just gotten her teammate out of an uncomfortable situation, and then this happens? "If you think that picking a fight with my teammate is going to impress me, then you're out of your mind!" Rock Lee shook his head.

"No, no, you misunderstand my intentions," he stated. "Hinata is the cousin of my teammate and rival, Neji Hyuga!" (_So that's who that guy was_, thought Naruto.) "He has always had superior fighting skills to my own," he went on. "I wish to surpass him, but I can only do that by pitting myself against someone who has similar strengths and abilities. You have the Byakugan and the Gentle Fist fighting style, making you my perfect opponent!" He paused to turn and look at Sakura intensely, then winked and blew her a kiss. He certainly had a strange way of hitting on girls: trying to pick fights at the same time.

Sakura made a gagging noise and turned away, clearly disgusted by Lee's antics. Lee turned back to Hinata.

"Well, do you accept my challenge?"

"Hey, knock it off!" yelled Naruto angrily. "If you want to fight her, you gotta go through me first!"

"And me, too!" said Sakura. The prospect of beating up Lee seemed to appeal to her.

"You are both undoubtedly worthy opponents," Lee said. "Not many rookie Genin could outmaneuver an experienced Chunin with such ease. However, I do not wish to fight you quite yet. Hinata is my opponent of choice!"

Though she remained rattled by this strange turn of events—she had been worried about a great deal of things when she had gotten up that morning, but being randomly challenged by a complete stranger to a fight was not one of them—Hinata did her best to regain her composure. Eying Lee worriedly, she tried to imagine what he was capable of. If he was Neji's rival as he claimed, then he must be at least as strong as her cousin—if not stronger (was such a thing even possible?). She would be nowhere near his skill level. If they fought, he would destroy her.

Images of herself sprawled across the floor, bones broken and lying in a pool of her own blood, flashed through her mind and she grimaced. Her immediate thought was to refuse—refuse and then turn and run away as fast as she could, in case he grew angry.

_If he does and chases after me, then at least Naruto and Sakura can hold him off, give me time to get away—_ Once the thought went through her mind, she was immediately filled with a deep sense of shame. _Turn and run, and let my teammates do all the work_, she thought, quickly growing angry and disgusted with herself. _That's the first idea to go through my head? Really?_ She wondered briefly what her father would think if he could have heard her thoughts. He'd undoubtedly be just as disgusted as she was. He'd tell her what a disappointment she was…and he'd be justified.

_Losing in front of Naruto would be… Not just losing, but being beaten so badly that I… _She grimaced again. Watching her flail helplessly in the spar would only serve to convince him that she was weak and needed to be looked after.

As always, she found herself wishing that she had even a fraction of Naruto's confidence and courage. She knew that fear of losing was simply not something that ever entered his mind. No matter how many times an opponent knocked him down, Naruto would always just get back up, and keep attacking until he finally triumphed. Sakura had a comparable bravery, never backing down from a fight and never doubting her own abilities.

Hinata, unfortunately, was not nearly so determined or resilient. _And that's why…he'll always look at her, and not me_, she thought sadly.

_But…if I… Even though I know that I'll be… _Images of herself being pounded into the ground, left broken and defeated, flashed through her mind again. _But at least__…after I recover, I'll be able to look myself in the mirror_.

Slowly coming to a decision, she forced herself to stand up straight and tall, making her best effort to swallow her trepidation and muster her courage. Taking a couple of slow, deep breaths to steady herself, she tried to form a determined expression on her face, and give away no hint of her near-panic. Hesitantly, she put one foot forward, then another, walking past Naruto and Sakura. Both of them looked at her in surprise, while Lee's eyes lit up at her approach; Naruto reached out to grab onto the sleeve of her jacket, stopping her. She looked down at his hand and blinked, feeling her face grow hot; though he wasn't exactly touching her per se, the contact had been enough to make her heart skip a beat.

"Hinata, what are you… Are you seriously going to fight this guy?" he whispered. She reluctantly turned to look at him, hoping she would succeed in keeping her face an emotionless mask.

"Yes," she whispered back. "I…want to test myself too."

He opened his mouth to reply but faltered, confused. Despite her attempts at masking her fear, he had seen through it the moment he had looked into her eyes; having spent as much time together as they had, neither of his teammates could hide their emotions from him as easily as before. He hadn't grown into some sort of expert at reading their facial expressions and discerning exactly what they were thinking—far from it—but he knew enough to tell when they were upset. And her mouth telling him one thing while her eyes told him something quite different left him feeling unsure as to how to respond.

"Are…you sure?" he asked finally.

"Yes," she affirmed, nodding her head. She tried to give him a reassuring grin, but he had no trouble seeing through it. As he continued to look into her eyes, her cheeks grew pink and she averted her gaze. He struggled to understand why Hinata—the kunoichi who had fearlessly battled at his side against the ninja Haku—was nervous about a spar with Lee. Perhaps she was sick and not at full strength today? Whatever the case, he had asked if she was sure and she had responded in the positive.

"Well…okay…" Naruto reluctantly released her, and let his hand fall to his side. However, Hinata continued to stand there.

"Naruto…" she said quietly after a second, looking him in the eyes again. She took a breath, as if she were about to speak, but her mouth quickly shut, and her eyes darted to the floor. Her cheeks had turned a brighter shade of pink and were quickly growing redder.

"Yeah?" he asked, perplexed. She hesitated, but then took another breath and spoke.

"Do…" she faltered and made a small gulp. Pushing her index fingers together, she gazed into his eyes and tried again. "Do you…think I can win?" she asked in a voice hardly louder than a whisper. He blinked in confusion.

"Well, sure," he said, his brow furrowing in slight confusion. He wasn't attempting to lift her spirits; his tone of voice was not encouraging, and he didn't try to give her an inspiring grin. He was answering as casually and as certainly as if she had asked him if he thought ramen was better than dango. She realized, with a sense of wonder, that he really and truly believed in her.

"…Thank you," she said, voice so quiet that he could hardly hear her. Before he could reply, she turned away and resumed walking toward Lee.

_If you think I can, then I will_, she thought, a warmth settling in her stomach and spreading throughout her body. The fear did not die easily, and continued to bother her, but she had a far easier time pushing it to the back of her mind and ignoring it. _I won't disappoint you._

Once she was about ten meters away from Lee, she stopped and held her position. "I accept your challenge," she said, her voice loud and steady as she returned his gaze.

"Excellent!" said Lee happily, getting into his fighting stance. Placing one foot directly behind the other in a narrow stance, he held one bandaged hand in front of him while the other was kept behind his back.

"Hurry up and kick his ass," said Sakura, sounding annoyed. "We have less than half an hour to turn in our applications!"

Hinata did not reply, and instead activated her Byakugan and got into her Gentle Fist stance, which was much wider than Lee's. One hand was above the other, with both of her palms facing her opponent.

Hinata and Lee stood perfectly still, staring at each other for almost a full minute; Lee was eager, and Hinata was determined to give everything she had, but neither one was willing to throw away the defensive advantage right away. Finally, Lee decided to take the initiative. He took a deep breath, then bolted straight toward Hinata, almost moving faster than the eye could follow.

Lee aimed a punch straight at her head; despite his great speed, she had no difficulty fluidly dodging it. She moved instantly to counterattack and strike Lee in the chest, but he leaped backward slightly, landing just outside of her reach. He tried darting to her flank, but she had no difficulty keeping up, spinning on her foot to turn and face him. Throwing another punch at her head, she slapped it out of the way and aimed a strike of her own at his face. He ducked, allowing himself to drop all the way to the ground; planting a single hand on the floor, he swept his leg in a kick aimed at her ankles, clearly attempting to kick her feet out from under her. Hinata nimbly hopped into the air, avoiding the kick, and moved to strike down at Lee.

However, the boy rolled out of the way, causing her to swipe at empty air. Before she could attempt to go on the offensive, he leaped back to his feet and charged at her once more. Moving faster than before, he suddenly unleashed a fierce barrage of punches. Again, she had no problem matching his speed well enough to avoid being hit; dipping her head, spinning on her heel, leaning to the side, leaning backward, slapping several of his punches away, his knuckles never once made contact with her, and both of the spectators gaped in awe at this display. Lee's speed was impressive, but the ease with which Hinata dodged was incredible; Sakura wondered if she could have ever landed a hit on her even if she wanted to.

However, it seemed that Hinata was too busy fending off her opponent's attacks to attempt throwing in one of her own.

Abruptly changing his tactics, Lee suddenly aimed a kick at her side; Hinata leaped backward and out of the kick's reach in time to avoid it. It seemed he was hoping she would do that; rather than charge straight at her, he made another attempt to attack from her flank, probably hoping he'd reach her before she had a chance to resume her proper stance. Moving in a blur, he was suddenly at her side, his fist reared back for a devastating punch. However, she seemed to have already seen him coming; incapable of turning to face him quickly enough, she threw herself backward, tucking in her arms and legs and somersaulting across the floor as she dodged his punch completely. Lee shot past her and skidded to a halt on the floor, growling in frustration. Hinata had bounced back to her feet before he had even finished sliding to a stop, facing him and prepared for him to renew his offensive.

At this brief break from combat, Naruto let out a long exhale and made a few rapid blinks. He had forgotten to breathe, and the two moved so quickly that he hadn't dared blink even once, lest he miss anything.

Turning to face Hinata, he took a breath and then charged her again, one hand trailing behind him. As soon as he reached her, he leaped into the air with a spin.

"Leaf Hurricane!" he cried, and swung his leg out to kick Hinata in the face.

_So that's what that move is called_, realized Naruto.

Hinata ducked her head underneath his foot; this time, however, his speed was greater, as she didn't move low enough quickly enough. As his second foot followed through, it hit her in the face with full force, sending her crashing to the ground with a cry.

"Hinata!" Naruto called out, worried; Sakura gasped in surprise, apparently having expected that Lee would never succeed in touching Hinata. But Hinata took less than a second to get back on her feet, a determined look on her face, despite the scratch and the forming bruise on her cheek. Lee swiftly charged her again, fist cocked to deliver a powerful punch while she was still disoriented.

However, he underestimated her. Believing that her reflexes would have slowed, he moved in with a direct attack, not suspecting that she'd be capable of dodging it. Hinata saw through it immediately, and reacted quickly enough to not merely dodge, but to counter. Lee's punch shot past her at the same time she moved to attack him. Her hand struck him square in the chest before he could dodge or jump away, and blue chakra flashed momentarily. A second attack came before Lee could even grimace in pain from the first, hitting him in the stomach.

Lee doubled over, crying out in pain. He visibly prepared himself to jump back and away from his opponent, but Hinata's hand shot out to grab his wrist and prevented him from escaping. True to her style, everything she did was powerful yet graceful, and every move she made looked fluid but was perfectly calculated. She tugged on his arm slightly before releasing it, tipping Lee towards her.

She sent another blow into his chest, and he cried out in pain again. He completely broke from his form and threw a wild punch at Hinata, which she easily dodged. She ducked low and swept her leg out, kicking Lee's feet out from under him, succeeding where he had failed earlier.

He tumbled to the floor, but had the presence of mind to roll away from her, succeeding in escaping her reach before she could continue her attacks. He got back on his feet surprisingly quickly, panting as he got back into his stance, a set look on his face. Confidence bolstered by the sudden turn of events, Hinata charged him this time, ready to strike him with yet more of her devastating Gentle Fist attacks. As soon as she reached him, she threw a blow at his torso. He easily dodged it, kicking his leg up as he went low.

His foot connected with Hinata's chin, causing her head to snap backwards and blood to fly everywhere; Hinata let out a cry of surprise and pain. The kick had enough force behind it to send her flying into the air in an arch, and Lee jumped into the air after her.

He positioned himself to glide underneath her as she flew, one hand poking her back.

"You are indeed a formidable opponent," Lee said. "But now, this fight is over!" His bandages began to unravel in midair, apparently in preparation of some strange attack.

_Hinata!_ Naruto thought frantically, horrified.

"Halt!" ordered a strange voice. A pinwheel shot out, hitting Lee's unraveled bandage and pinning it to the wall. Lee looked down in shock, and Naruto and Sakura turned to see a giant red tortoise standing in the room. "That's enough, Lee!"

Lee heeded the order, abandoning his attack and flipping in midair to land on his feet. Limbs flailing, Hinata continued her descent, powerless to stop it.

"Hinata!" Naruto cried out. He sprinted to where she was about to land and threw himself in the way, catching her in his arms and breaking her fall. He was thrown back and he landed on the floor, but Hinata was safe. The wind knocked out of him, it was several seconds before he was able to speak. "Hey, are you okay?" he breathlessly asked her.

She didn't answer, but quickly scrambled out of Naruto's arms, ending up on her hands and knees on the floor. He looked at her with concern for a moment, then glanced back to the other side of the room.

Rock Lee was bowing before the tortoise in submission. _What the heck?_ thought Naruto, confused. _Is that tortoise his teacher or something?_

Sakura hurried over to where they were sitting.

"Is Hinata okay?" she asked, worried.

"I think so," said Naruto, looking down at her.

_Stupid, stupid, stupid_, Hinata cursed herself, purposely facing away from everyone else as she wiped the blood off her face. _I was actually winning, and I threw it all away. Idiot. Stupid idiot. Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid! _She had trouble resisting the urge to slam her fist on the ground.

"Please, forgive me!" Lee begged the tortoise. "I was not going to use the Reverse Lotus!"

"Silence!" boomed the tortoise. "Your feeble excuses will not be tolerated! Are you ready to receive your punishment?"

"Yes," said Lee, standing rigid. A poof of white smoke exploded over the tortoise, and a Jonin with a soupbowl haircut and eyebrows even thicker than Lee's appeared, standing in a strange posture, as if he were in the middle of dancing. Naruto and Sakura stared at him in shock.

"Idiot!" he yelled, punching Lee in the face and sending him flying. Lee climbed to his feet, tears in his eyes.

"Guy-sensei!" he bawled. Guy had tears streaming down his face as well.

"Lee!" The two ran to each other and embraced in some bizarre spectacle, tears streaming down their faces as they blubbered nonsense.

"Eww," said Sakura, disgusted. What the hell was going on? Guy had punched Lee, and two seconds later they were crying in each other's arms?

"I understand, Lee," Guy went on. "You did it because you're young. Mistakes and youth go hand in hand!"

"Guy-sensei, you are too kind!" Lee said. They released their disturbing embrace and Guy placed his hand on Lee's shoulder.

"This infringement on the rules cannot go unpunished!" he stated. "Your penalty is to run two hundred laps around Konoha!"

"Guy-sensei, that is too easy," protested Lee. "Make it five hundred!"

"Very well, five hundred it is!" agreed Guy. "Starting right now!"

"We have less than twenty minutes to apply for the Chunin Exam, you know!" called out Sakura, annoyed.

"Ah, of course! Lee, you'll just have to run those laps after you apply!"

"Yes, Guy-sensei!"

Guy looked up at Team 7 and rubbed his chin.

"Oh crap," murmured Sakura. "He's looking at us funny…"

"Hey, you!" he called to the three Genin. "How is Kakashi doing?"

"You know Kakashi?" asked Naruto.

"Do I know him?" asked the Jonin. He smiled and closed his eyes, then disappeared in the blink of an eye, reappearing behind Team 7 within a fraction of a second. "You might say we're rivals!"

_He's faster than Kakashi!_ Naruto realized. Though she had been intending to continue facing away from everyone else, Hinata couldn't help turning to look up at Guy, alarmed by his sudden appearance.

"The score stands at fifty to forty-nine," Guy went on. "I'm stronger than he is!" He jabbed a thumb at himself proudly.

"As you can see, Guy-sensei is totally awesome!" Lee said.

_Score?_ wondered Sakura, confused. _What score? How many people they've killed or something?_

"I know Lee started this fight," Guy said to them. "But please, forgive him. Mistakes come with youth!"

_So he says he's stronger than Kakashi… I have no idea if that's true or not, but he's definitely weirder._ Sakura looked up at Guy suspiciously.

"You all should head up to 301 now," advised Guy. He threw a kunai at the pinwheel pinning Lee's bandage to the wall, releasing it. Lee began wrapping his hand once more, but not before Naruto noticed how bruised and battered it was.

_He must train an awful lot to get like that… _he thought.

"Best of luck, all of you!" said Guy, then disappeared. Lee finished wrapping up his hand, then turned to Team 7.

"I apologize, Hinata," he said. "It was rude of me to single you out in front of your friends. But I needed to test my skills against someone like Neji, and I could do no better than you."

"I… It's all right, I guess," Hinata said quietly, speaking out loud for the first time since the fight started. Lee turned to the stairs and leaped back up.

"Perhaps we will fight again," he called down, and disappeared.

"Wow," said Sakura. "That was creepy."

"Tell me about it," Naruto muttered. He turned to Hinata. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, doing her best to hide her humiliation. "Let's just go and apply before it's too late." She stood and began to move in the direction of the stairs, but Sakura reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hang on a second," said the pink-haired kunoichi.

"Hm?" Hinata paused in confusion, turning to face her teammate.

"Hold still," Sakura said quietly, concentrating chakra into her hand until it began to glow green. "This'll only take a sec." Raising her hand to Hinata's face, she cupped the Hyuga's wounded cheek, and the scratch and bruise immediately disappeared; she repositioned her hand to rest over her chin, and the injury there quickly vanished as well. "There," she said with a smile, her work completed. Her hand ceased glowing, and she lowered it to her side. "Good as new." Embarrassed, Hinata cast her gaze down at the floor.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"Don't mention it," Sakura replied. She noted Hinata's apparent discomfort with slight concern. _Is she upset she didn't do better against that weirdo?_ she wondered. _I thought she did pretty good, considering… He was older and it seemed like he knew what to expect from her, but she still managed to get a few solid hits in, even though she knew nothing about him__…_ Maybe Hyugas are just sore losers? She tried to think of something encouraging to tell her, but nothing good came to mind; she opened her mouth, then shut it, and a dreadful awkward silence began to descend upon the room.

Naruto looked at the two curiously for a moment before speaking. "So, are we ready to go and apply?"

"Yeah," said Sakura, gratefully turning to face him; Hinata merely nodded.

"Cool, let's get up there, then."

As Naruto happened to be standing closer to the stairs, he took the lead as the three of them ascended to the third floor. The three wound up maintaining their silence; Naruto was fixated on finding the room they were looking for, while Sakura occasionally glanced at Hinata, who refused to look at either of her teammates. Hurrying down several hallways, they eventually found room 301 at the end of the floor. In front of the set of double doors stood Kakashi, who seemed to be engrossed by a book he held in his hand; all three of them looked at him in surprise.

"Glad to see you all made it," he told them as they approached, not looking up from his book. "And it's a good thing all of you did show up, because participants are only allowed to enter the Exam in groups of three."

"Wait, but…" Sakura faltered. She looked confused for a brief instant, but her expression quickly turned angry. "Now wait a minute, you told us that it was up to us, voluntary!"

"I did. And it is. All three of you voluntarily decided to apply. If only two of you had, then it would have been unfortunate, but I wanted each of you to be certain that you were prepared for this. If I had mentioned that all three of you needed to join together, then each of you would have felt pressured to apply. The Chunin Exam is serious business. It's not something I would want any of you to go through if you didn't feel prepared for it." Hinata felt uncomfortable, wondering if he had suspected she would be the team member who didn't want to participate. However, concentrated on his book as he was, he gave no indication that he was referring to any of them in particular. He flipped a page before continuing. "That's all a moot point, though. All of you are here, ready and willing to face the Chunin Exam. I really am proud of you three." He finally looked up from his novel to face them and gave them a thumbs up, grinning beneath his mask. "Go in there, and show them what you're made of!"

The three Genin stared at him for a moment, then exchanged looks. Naruto let out a small laugh and flashed a wide grin at his teammates; Sakura merely rolled her eyes, but when he aimed it at Hinata, her heart fluttered. In spite of everything that had just happened, she couldn't help but return the smile. Gazing into his eyes, the familiar warmth filled her again, and she felt her bruised confidence slowly recover. As long as he was there…she knew that nothing could stand in their way.

Naruto turned away and walked to the door, and his teammates followed, with Kakashi stepping aside. Sakura and Naruto pushed open the doors, and all three walked inside, ready to face whatever challenges would be thrown their way. The Chunin Exam had begun.

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Did you know that if you read the manga, Rock Lee has a strange design on the back of his bodysuit in the first few panels of chapter 37? It can be seen most clearly in the panel where he's jumping off the stairs, right after he blows Sakura a kiss, and again when he's talking to the tortoise. It's gone by the time his fight with Sasuke is over, though (it's not there when Lee and Guy are hugging), and the anime ignores it completely.

**Quote of the Day:**

"I want to find out who this FICA guy is and how come he's taking so much of my money."

- Nick Kypreos


	14. Meeting the Competition

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 14: Meeting the Competition_

As soon as Team 7 walked into Room 301, all three of the Genin gasped.

"Wha-What the…" Naruto stammered.

"What is this?" asked Sakura, looking paralyzed.

The entire room was packed from wall to wall with dozens of Genin of every size and shape imaginable. Most of them wore Leaf headbands, but almost half wore some foreign symbol instead, which Naruto deduced meant they came from another village. All of the Genin in the room turned to look at the newcomers, fixing them with intense stares.

The three Genin all felt incredibly tiny and insignificant at the moment, under the fierce glares of over a hundred ninjas.

_Are they all here to apply for the Chunin Exam?_ Sakura wondered, distraught. _They look awfully tough…_

"Well, if it isn't the billboard brow!" said a voice. Team 7 all turned to see who said it, and saw Team 10 strolling towards them, Ino in the lead.

"Who are you calling billboard brow, you pig?" asked Sakura furiously. Ino looked at her smugly and stuck her tongue out, taking pleasure in taunting her rival. Shikamaru Nara, who stood to her left, had his hands shoved into his pockets and wore an annoyed expression. Choji Akimichi, the third teammate, stood there, hungrily eating his way through a bag of potato chips. Sakura continued to glare at Ino when an obnoxious voice suddenly called out.

"Well, look who made it!" said Kiba Inuzuka, walking towards them. He had the hood of his jacket on, and his ninja dog Akamaru rested on it, looking at all of them in turn like some kind of sentry.

Kiba's teammates walked behind him, both of them looking incredibly aloof compared to their loudmouthed companion. Shino Aburame, dressed in a large coat and sunglasses, towered over his teammates, several inches taller than either of them, and remained expressionless as they got closer. Sasuke Uchiha, in contrast, seemed to glare at everything as if he hated the world and everyone it, giving him a frightening appearance.

This, however, did not stop Ino from screaming in delight and throwing herself at him as if they were lovers. As much as she might have wished that were true, Sasuke had no interest in that and forcefully pushed her off of him. Sakura grinned and waved at him, but he completely ignored her.

"Looks like the gang's all here!" Kiba said, grinning arrogantly.

"Including you, unfortunately," Shikamaru muttered. Choji looked up at Akamaru hungrily, as if he were imagining what he would taste like.

"So, all of the rookies decided to enter this year, huh?" Kiba went on. "How far do you think everyone else is gonna get, Sasuke?" Sasuke looked at the other competitors skeptically.

"Not far," he stated. "I can't tell which team is worse, Ino's or Naruto's."

"Stop trying to act cool, you dumbass!" said Naruto angrily.

"Who's acting?" said Kiba. "There's no way a bunch of idiots like you can beat us!"

"Really? Then how many A missions have you guys been on, huh?" Naruto retorted. Kiba's smirk disappeared.

"You… You guys got an A rank mission?" he asked, looking shocked. "That's… That's impossible! You must be lying!"

"Check our records if you want to, you dope! We're the strongest team here!"

Kiba looked ready to shout something back when another voice interjected.

"Would you guys just shut the hell up!" The Rookie 9 swiftly turned to look at the person who said it. It was a fellow Leaf Genin with white hair and glasses. "You would-be hotshots are all rookies, right?" he continued. "Well, let me tell you, this isn't like the field trips you had back at the Academy. What do you think you're doing here?"

"And who the hell are you?" asked Sasuke, sounding annoyed. The Genin walked up to them.

"Name's Kabuto," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You all might want to watch your step around the Genin behind you. Everyone here's on edge, and they might beat the crap out of you if you give them half a chance. But you're rookies, and I know what that's like. You think you know everything."

"Mistakes come with youth?" inquired Sakura.

"What?" asked Kabuto, looking confused.

"Er, nothing," said Sakura, her face turning red. "Forget about it. So, is this your second try at the Chunin Exam or something?"

"Nah," said Kabuto, shaking his head. "Seventh. The Exam is held twice a year, and I've competed in each one for… going on four years now."

"Then you must be pretty experienced," said Sasuke. "You would know everything we have to expect."

"I suppose you could say that," agreed Kabuto. He pulled what looked like a deck of cards out of his pocket. "I've compiled all the information I know into these cards. They only respond to my chakra, so I'm the only one who can access them. Watch."

The Genin observed as he kneeled and selected a card, sliding it across the ground with his finger. Chakra began to emanate from it in waves, until what looked like a three-dimensional map appeared, displaying the Five Great Shinobi Nations and various minor countries. Three-dimensional bars shot into the air from several of the countries, which Naruto quickly took to represent the amount of Genin participating in the Exam. The Land of Fire was clearly in the lead, with the Land of Wind being a distant second.

Sakura looked at the map and the nations carefully, noticing that something was amiss. She quickly realized what it was.

"What kind of country is Sound?" she asked, pointing to its position. "I've never heard of it before." All of the Genin craned their necks to look closer at the map, and Kabuto slid his finger to lay on Sound's position.

"Oh, yeah," he said, as if he had been hoping someone would ask that question. "The Empire of Sound. It's pretty new. It used to be called the Land of Rice Fields. A little while back, Rice Fields got the shit end of the stick in a huge war, and was crushed. The country's leader was pretty useless, and had no idea how to fix things. Then along came a powerful ninja seeking his fortune, and he offered to create a hidden village. The country's leader accepted, and the Hidden Sound Village was created. Eventually, the founder of the village, or Otokage, gained enough public support to overthrow the old daimyo and replace him. He renamed the nation to reflect his village."

"That's… unheard of," said Ino, looking bewildered by the news. "The country must have really hated their old leader if they replaced him. I don't think that even the Hokage could pull off something like that, and he's very popular. What kind of country is Sound like now?"

"I'm not sure," said Kabuto. "I've never been there. But I've heard that the Otokage-slash-daimyou has been increasing the military might of his country like crazy, both in shinobi and ordinary soldiers. He has a single ninja clan working directly under him, separate from the army. He's been using it as sort of police force and personal guard, rounding up enemies of the state."

"Rounding them up?" asked Sakura. "What clan is this? Where do they send the prisoners?" Kabuto rubbed his chin, apparently trying to remember something.

"The clan is called the Fuma," he finally said. "But now that I think about it, I believe that the Otokage's secret police membership isn't limited to just them, it's just that they make up the most important officials, being completely loyal to him. As for the prisoners they arrest, I think that they're shipped off to prison camps or something. Nothing serious."

"Is the Empire of Sound totalitarian or something?" persisted Sakura. Something seemed very fishy about this country. "Where does the Otokage get the right to just ship people to camps? Who exactly is he, anyway?"

"No, no, it's not totalitarian," stated Kabuto, fervently shaking his head. "Remember, the people love him. And he only punishes those who have done the nation wrong. As for his identity, it's actually unknown, at least to me. He works from behind the scenes, only letting his people know of his existence by the work he does. Besides, would the people really hate their new leader if they're lining up by the thousands to join his new army?"

"What does he need such a large army for?" asked Sasuke. "Is this Otokage planning on going to war?" He meant the question to be sarcastic, but Kabuto nodded his head seriously.

"He is," he said. "He's promising to get revenge on the country that defeated Rice Fields in the past. He hasn't made it any sort of secret. But none of the Five Great Shinobi Nations care. None of them are allied with the nation in question. If anything, Fire might be obligated to help, seeing as how Sound is its ally. All of the citizens are pretty excited about it, and they're volunteering for the army in droves. But like I said, I've never been there, so don't take my word for it. If anyone would know, it would be the three Sound Genin sent here to compete."

"Do you have individual information about them, along with all the other competing Genin?" Naruto asked curiously. There were a few ninjas he wanted to learn more about.

"I sure do," said Kabuto, reshuffling his deck of cards. "The information about the competing Genin is far from complete, but I've at least been able to attain some basic stats about each one, like how many of each type of mission they've done. For the ones that I have more knowledge on, I have their attributes listed and ranked. Like their skills in genjutsu, ninjutsu, and taijutsu, that kind of stuff. Who are these ninjas you're wondering about?"

"I have a whole list," stated Naruto. "Kankuro, Gaara, Temari, Rock Lee, and those Sound ninjas."

"You know their names?" asked Kabuto. "That makes it too easy!" He went through the deck and quickly produced seven cards. He activated them and handed them to Naruto.

"Hold on!" said Kiba. "Give me Naruto's card! I wanna see for myself that he's done an A mission!" Akamaru barked and growled, apparently agreeing with him.

"Whatever you say," said Kabuto, and quickly gave Kiba a card decorated with Naruto's image. Kiba glared at it for a second, then his jaw went slack as he read the information. He gave Naruto a disgusted look, and flipped the card back towards Kabuto, who put it back in his deck.

Naruto looked at all the cards in his hand, and was shocked to see how skilled all of the opponents appeared to be. There seemed to be no information on the Sand team, though it seemed to hint that they were all very powerful. Sakura quickly snatched the Temari card out of his hand and studied it intently.

Rock Lee turned out to be a taijutsu specialist, with no abilities in ninjutsu or genjutsu whatsoever. That particular bit of information didn't particularly surprise Naruto, considering the kinds of moves Lee had used.

There was more information on the cards with the Sound ninjas than the Sand team, but not much. The leader, a Genin named Dosu, looked like a hunchback with his entire head wrapped up like a mummy, leaving only his right eye visible. A kunoichi named Kin had long dark hair that reached her ankles and eyes that seemed to be permanently stuck in a glare. The third Genin, Zaku, wore a sort of metal facemask that lined his cheeks, like an ancient helmet. He wore a shirt with the symbol for "death" on it. All of their headbands bore the symbol of the Sound Village, which was a musical note, the quaver.

All of the rival Genin looked fearsome and powerful.

"So, are all of the Genin here like the best in their class or something?" Sakura asked.

"Absolutely," said Kabuto. "They represent their respective countries, and are hand-picked elites. Remember, all of the foreigners competing have only been sent here because they stand a good chance at winning." Naruto, however, noticed something.

"Why is Leaf the only village to have Genin with bloodline limits competing?" he asked. The question seemed to take everyone else by surprise. Had he really been the only one to notice it?

"That's true, huh?" said Ino, looking between Hinata and Sasuke. One of them had the Byakugan; the other the Sharingan. Kabuto began looking at the two as well, looking to be deep in thought.

"Yeah, that's right…" he said. He stared at Hinata intently, as if he had never noticed her before. Maybe he hadn't; she had been completely silent the entire time.

"It increases the chances of at least one surviving the whole thing…" he murmured. He seemed to do some mental calculations, moving his lips slightly.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sasuke sounded annoyed, narrowing his eyes at Kabuto. The white-haired Genin looked up at him in surprise.

"Nothing, nothing," he quickly said. "Just rambling, was all… Where was I? Right, well, like I was saying, all of the rival Genin are going to be really strong and experienced. The Chunin Exam won't be a cakewalk, especially for you rookies straight out of the Academy."

At his words, Naruto turned to look at all of the other foreign Genin, sitting and waiting for the Exam to officially commence. Some of them were still looking in the direction of the Rookie 9. Looking at all of the competitors, he felt something surge within him. Was it fear? No, it couldn't be.

He remembered how his team had gotten through everything together. The perilous mission in the Land of Waves, the mission to help Konohamaru, and even the annoying D missions. If Team 7 could make it through all of that perfectly fine, then what was all of this competition except a minor annoyance?

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Kakashi stood outside Room 301, remembering that day when he had recommended all three of his Genin for the Chunin Exam. He had been a hundred percent certain that they were capable of passing, though there had been some who had protested against his decision, not just Iruka.

_"Regardless of the test Lord Hokage has proposed, I think that Iruka may have a point," Guy said, stepping forward. "They really are too young. They undoubtedly have much untapped potential, but they are still inexperienced. I believe that you three might be rushing them into something new that they can't quite handle."_

_The entire room turned to look at Guy. Iruka was respected as the mentor of their pupils, but was often regarded as not really knowing what it meant to be an active ninja. Someone who ran a classroom was not regularly putting himself in danger. Guy, on the other hand, was widely regarded as a powerful Jonin, and his opinion on a matter like this would carry much more weight._

"_Just look at my Genin!" Guy continued. "They were good enough to begin with, but I decided to wait a year so that they could grow. And now look at them! They're the strongest and most feared competitors from Leaf!"_

"_Guy, what my team lacks in experience, it more than makes up for it in surprises," Kakashi said simply. "They have grown faster than you could possibly imagine ever since they left the Academy. Give them a chance, and you'll see for yourself who the strongest and most feared Genin from Leaf really are."_

_Guy looked insulted, and Sarutobi sighed._

"_Enough of this!" commanded the Hokage. "The decision has already been made. Now, let's please continue selecting competing Genin…"_

Kakashi leaned up against the wall, letting his head rest on it so he could look up at the ceiling.

_They are strong_, he thought to himself. _They're strong individually, and that's great. But even more importantly, they're stronger working together as a single unit. They're all confident of their abilities, and Naruto has sort of taken the position of role model, much to my surprise. Hinata sees him as a source of strength and motivation to push herself to the limit. Sakura takes note of the way he selflessly defends others, which she tries to emulate. And what's more, Naruto is fearless. He might have gotten himself killed by now if it weren't for his kunoichi friends there to help him, but he's brave nonetheless. His attitude encourages both Hinata and Sakura to face new challenges that they otherwise might have tried to shy away from. But above all, the three of them have learned to rely on each other. They all fully understand how important teamwork is, and none of them try to stand out and steal all the glory. And no matter how powerful all the other competitors might be, that's what makes Team 7 the strongest out of all of them._

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Sakura looked at Naruto as he stared out at the competition. His shoulders seemed to be shaking slightly.

_Is he really starting to get freaked out?_ Sakura wondered. _That's not like him… But who can blame him? We're just a bunch of rookies, absolute beginners! Maybe I can comfort him or something…_

She extended her arm so that it would rest on his shoulder, but he suddenly took a step forward before she could reach him. With what sounded like a low growl, he pointed his finger out at the competing Genin before them.

"Listen up all of you!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, making sure he got the attention of everyone in the room. "We're Team 7, and we're gonna beat every one of you! Believe it!"

The room was deathly quiet for a moment after he spoke as all of the competing Genin turned to look at him. Unbeknownst to them, outside the door Kakashi began laughing.

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Kankuro glared at Naruto as soon as he heard the boy's outburst.

"It's that little punk again!" he said furiously. Gaara stared over at Naruto with disinterest, then turned away again. Temari looked at Naruto and laughed.

"Cute," she murmured.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you saying that when he and all of his little friends are gone for good!" Kankuro continued, enraged. Temari looked at him quickly, a look of horror on her face.

"Kankuro!" she said, shocked. "What do you think you're doing? Shut up!"

Gaara fixed his eyes on Kankuro and glared, convincing him to shut up for the duration of the wait for the Exam to begin.

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Neji glared at Naruto as well. Rock Lee looked over in their direction, though his gaze didn't seem to burn with hatred.

"That little snot," muttered Neji. "Who does he think he is? Just because he helped knock over a Chunin doesn't give him the right to make a spectacle of himself!"

"You shouldn't be talking, Neji," said Tenten. "At least he did something to that Chunin. You just stood there, even when he slapped me!"

"I—the plan we agreed on didn't—" he looked flustered. Tenten looked away from him, her nose in the air. Rock Lee shook his head, giving Neji a disappointed look. The Hyuga was normally very articulate, but he seemed to be at a loss for words when his own teammates held some loudmouthed blond in higher regard than him.

He glared over at Naruto even more fiercely than before. He vowed to crush him in the Exam…and disgrace the Main Branch of the Hyuga Clan while he was at it.

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"What the hell is he playing at?" asked Zaku as he stared at Kabuto. "Going on as if he's never set foot in—"

"Yes!" said Kin, smashing her foot on top of Zaku's and interrupting him. "A Leaf Genin would most likely have never set foot in our home country. A real Leaf Genin would have no reason to go to our country, now would he?"

"Oh, right," Zaku stammered, his face turning red. "I just forgot, is all."

"Even still, I feel like we should teach that idiot a lesson," Dosu said, narrowing his visible eye. "I mean, he's a Leaf Genin, insulting our home country! We have to represent our homeland, right?"

"Dosu, what are you talking about?" Kin asked, lowering her voice into a harsh whisper. "Attacking…him? Are you out of your mind?"

"What's the harm in attacking a talentless Genin?" he replied in a normal voice. "Come on," he went on, lowering it to a whisper like Kin's. "It wouldn't hurt to make everyone think we've got nothing to do with him. Besides, wouldn't attacking someone insulting our country be a logical response?"

"I…I don't know…" Kin looked very uneasy about the idea.

"Come on, it'll be fun," Dosu persisted. He turned, and began stepping in Kabuto's direction, his two teammates reluctantly following his lead.

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"Uh, could you say that a little louder?" Kiba asked sarcastically, laughing at Naruto's expense. Akamaru barked in agreement. Naruto merely leaned back and chuckled, proud of himself.

"Are you trying to get everyone in here to hate us?" asked Shikamaru.

"He's right, Naruto!" hissed Sakura. "You're gonna get us killed!"

"Jeez, Sakura!" exclaimed Ino. "Keep your boyfriend under control!"

"Shut up, you pig!" shouted Sakura, her cheeks turning red. "He's more your boyfriend than mine!"

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"Well, I'll just kick your ass until it does!"

Kabuto sighed and shrugged. The rookies could certainly be a weird bunch. A flicker of movement caught his eye as three ninjas suddenly sprang in different directions, and he quickly turned to look at them.

Without much warning, the Sound ninja Zaku suddenly leaped into the air above Kabuto and hurled two kunais at him. Kabuto leaped backwards and out of the way, and the kunais imbedded themselves in the ground. He slid to a halt, just as the ninja Dosu swiftly moved towards him, pulling his fist back for a punch. His right arm had some sort of metal device strapped to it.

Dosu swung his fist at Kabuto's head, but the Leaf Genin quickly dodged. He grinned as he moved out of the way, foiling another attack. His smile disappeared when his glasses suddenly shattered, and the shards fell to the floor.

"What happened?" asked Sasuke, looking at Kabuto. "He dodged the punch!"

"He must have been grazed," suggested Shikamaru.

Kabuto took off his glasses and inspected them curiously. Suddenly, he dropped them and clutched at his stomach as he fell to his knees, vomiting.

"Ah, crap!" exclaimed Naruto. "He's puking!" Both he and Sakura ran to the fallen Genin, and the three Sound ninja stood before them menacingly.

"Are you all right?" asked Sakura once she reached Kabuto, putting her hand on his back.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he said weakly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You don't look okay…" muttered Naruto.

"You're nothing but a pushover," said Dosu. "Pretty sad, for someone who's been competing for four years!"

"Add this to your cards," said Zaku. "All of the Sound ninja will pass the Chunin Exam!"

"All of you, shut up!" roared a commanding voice. A large cloud of white smoke suddenly appeared with a poof, filling up the room. When it cleared, a tall Jonin with a scarred face, bandana, and trenchcoat stood at the end of the room, and had dozens of Leaf Chunin behind him. At the forefront were the two Chunin who had been blocking the false Room 301 less than an hour ago.

"I am Ibiki Morino," said the Jonin. "I am going to oversee the first part of the Exam." He suddenly extended a gloved hand and pointed at the Sound ninjas. "You three!" he yelled. "Stop horsing around, unless you want to be disqualified!"

"Sorry," said Dosu. "It's our first Exam, and we got a bit…carried away."

"Is that so?" sneered Ibiki. "Well then, let me lay down a few ground rules before we begin. From this point forward, there shall be no more fighting for the first part of the Chunin Exam. You Genin can do absolutely nothing unless I say so. If you do anything that endangers the life of another applicant, you'll be immediately disqualified! There will be no second chances."

"So, this is a test for pansies, huh?" said Zaku.

"The first part of the Chunin Exam is now about to officially commence," Ibiki continued. "All of you must now turn in your signed applications, and take one of these seating assignment cards." He held up a card with the number 1 for everyone to see. "You then report to the indicated seat. Once everyone is in the correct place, we'll be passing out the written test."

"A written test!" Naruto felt like he had just been dropped off the edge of the world. He had always sucked at tests, and now it was the very first challenge?

Naruto turned in his application and was given his seating card. To his dismay, both Sakura and Hinata were placed in completely different parts of the room, dashing any of his hopes of getting help from them. He was isolated and helpless. He gloomily let his forehead rest on the table, until he heard someone take a seat next to him.

"Well well, look who it is," said an all-too-familiar voice. Naruto quickly looked up to see who it was.

"You!" said Naruto angrily.

"Of course it's me, you moron," said Sasuke Uchiha as he sat down. Naruto banged his head against his desk, crushed. What could be worse than having to sit next to such a loser and asshole like Sasuke? Sasuke looked at him and chuckled, shaking his head.

"Knowing what a dumbass you are, you won't make it past the first part," Sasuke said, grinning at Naruto's misfortune.

"Shut up, you asswipe," Naruto growled angrily, keeping his head on the table. Sasuke continued as if he hadn't heard him.

"But I guess it's just as well," he sneered. "If you got any further than the first part, I'd just kick your ass." Naruto furiously sat up straight in his chair.

"I'm going to kill you Sasuke!" he yelled, pointing at him. The Uchiha merely snorted and shook his head again.

"Okay everyone," Ibiki said. He was standing in front of the class, by the blackboard. "Keep your tests face down until I tell you otherwise. Now pay close attention to these rules. I'm going to write them down on the blackboard for everyone to see, but I'm not taking questions and I'm not going to repeat myself." He grabbed a piece of chalk and began to write on the blackboard.

"Rule number one!" he said as he wrote. "Each one of you starts out with ten points. The test has ten questions, each one worth one point. For each question you get wrong, we subtract one point from your total score. If you get all ten questions right, you retain all of your points and have a perfect score. If you get seven questions right, you retain seven points. It's that simple." Ibiki wrote the examples he had cited on the board.

"Rule number two!" he continued. "This test is still a team event. Passing or failing will be determined by the total scores of all three members of each team. In other words, the real total score is thirty points, with each team member being responsible for their third. The goal remains the same, however: to try to get as close as possible to a perfect score."

The entire room began to murmur uncomfortably at this rule. How would it be to get a perfect score but fail anyway because your teammates couldn't pass? Naruto pulled at his hair, getting frantic.

_What if I get no points?_ he wondered. _Well, I guess Hinata and Sakura are pretty smart. They should get enough points so that we could all pass… I hope…_

"Rule number three!" Ibiki went on. "If, during the course of the exam, someone is caught cheating by the proctors, we subtract two points from their total score. If you are caught five times, you will automatically have failed and be asked to leave."

More murmurs came with that rule, but not as much as the second one. At least this rule made sense.

"Rule number four!" bellowed Ibiki. "If anyone receives a zero on their test, that person's entire team, regardless of how well they performed, will fail and be disqualified from the Chunin Exam."

The entire class erupted. What kind of rule was that?

_Oh, man…_ Naruto thought miserably, banging his head on the table again. _I'm the only one on my team dumb enough to fail a test that badly. And if I go down, I'll drag Hinata and Sakura with me!_

"Ah, poor Naruto," said Sasuke, smirking. "Not only will you fail, you'll keep your entire team from passing the Exam!"

"Sasuke…" Naruto's voice trembled with rage.

"You have one hour," said Ibiki to the Genin. "Starting… Now!"

In unison, the room of Genin flipped their tests over and began working. Naruto looked at the first question.

_Cryptography?_ he thought. _Deciphering codes? I suck at that crap! I'll just have to skip it…_

He looked at the second question. It was a diagram marked with letters to represent specific places, and had instructions underneath it. Naruto read it.

_The parabola marked B represents the greatest effective distance the shinobi marked A could throw a shuriken from the top of a tree 23.3 feet high. Calculate the specific features of the scenario and deduce the range of the shuriken's effectiveness, assuming a consistent speed for shinobi A's assault upon any enemy shinobi operating within the arc that the flight of the shuriken describes._

Naruto looked up from the paper, feeling a sense of horror spread within him. There was no way he could answer this question. What was the point of it, anyway? Wouldn't a ninja in a real combat situation have to figure this kind of stuff out for himself, without any time for complicated math equations?

He skipped down the questions, looking for any one that was easier for him to solve and answer. His search was pointless; the questions only seemed to get harder as he went down. At the tenth question, he paused. It was different from the rest.

_This question will not be provided until forty-five minutes into the exam_, it read. _At that time, please answer the instructor's question to the best of your ability._

What was that all about? He spared a glance at Sasuke, more out of curiosity as to how he was doing than anything else. To his surprise, he saw that Sasuke's paper was completely blank, with none of the questions answered. Sasuke was looking at his test and chewing on his pencil, his brow furrowed in confusion. So, the test was too hard for a hotshot like him, too? Despite having his own problems to deal with, Naruto felt a sly grin creep up his face.

An idea came to his brilliant mind, so used to making up pranks on the spot when they were needed. Starting with question number one, he began hastily scribbling answers all the way down. He tried to make the answers seem as likely as possible, or at least not stand out as being obviously wrong at first glance. When he got to number nine and finished, he looked back up at Sasuke. He still hadn't even answered the first question.

"I thought you were smart, you little snot," Naruto whispered to Sasuke. "But look at you! You can't even answer the first question!" Sasuke glared at him from the corner of his eye.

"Oh, and I suppose you could do bet— What the hell?" He looked down at Naruto's paper in shock.

Naruto had done everything to make sure that his test looked convincing. He even did the work, drawing out long and complicated (but clearly wrong) equations to masquerade as hard work done to solve the questions. The work he did for question two looked particularly convincing, filling up almost half the sheet. It was all done in pencil, so he didn't have to worry about not being able to redo the problems.

"I guess the Uchiha Clan isn't as great as everyone was saying, you big dummy!" Naruto said gleefully. Of course, Sasuke had no idea that Naruto was lying. They were in equally bad positions.

"You must have cheated!" Sasuke hissed angrily at him. "You should be getting kicked out by now! You're way too stupid to be able to answer these kinds of questions!"

"I might be stupid," Naruto conceded. "But at least I'm not as stupid as you!" He flipped over his test so that it lay face down, as if he cared that Sasuke might try to copy the answers. It helped add to the illusion. Besides, if Sasuke took a closer look at his answers, he would probably realize they were wrong.

Naruto yawned and leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes. Sasuke glared at him again, then returned to trying to figure out his test, fuming. Despite pretending to be asleep, Naruto was actually deep in thought.

_All those other answers are completely wrong. I don't stand a chance of passing on those alone. And Sasuke was right. I'm not smart enough to get those answers right, I'd have to cheat. But I don't know how I can do that without getting caught… If I get the tenth question right, though, it'll save me from getting a zero. If I get at least one right, the whole team will get to pass. I know that Sakura's super smart, she'll be able to answer all of these questions no sweat. Hinata isn't stupid, either. I'm sure she could get at least one right, but probably enough to get our team close enough to the total thirty so we can pass to the second exam. Hell, with her Byakugan, she can probably cheat without getting caught. Having x-ray vision really can come in handy. If I had the Byakugan back at the Academy, I probably wouldn't have had such low scores all the time…_

Naruto continued to think of all the things he could have done with the Byakugan, getting progressively more creative (or perverted, though that was not a word that he used to describe himself). Several people were caught cheating five times and were forced to leave, disqualified. The Sand ninja Kankuro got up to go to the bathroom and was followed by a proctor, and quickly returned. Naruto slid the worries about the tenth question to the back of his mind, and before he knew it forty-five minutes was up.

"All right!" Ibiki called out to the Genin. "Everyone get ready for the tenth question!" Naruto's eyes snapped open and he leaned forward. Looking over at Sasuke, he saw that the Uchiha's pencil had been chewed so thoroughly that it was almost separated into two pieces, and it looked like he hadn't been able to answer a single question. The marks and smears of erased work were all over the sheet, but no definite answers to the questions. It looked like Sasuke was going to have to rely on the tenth question, too.

"Now, before we get to the tenth question, I'm going to be adding a fifth rule," said Ibiki. "Let me explain it to you. This rule has two halves. It is going to be absolute, and no exceptions will be made. Before I announce the question, you will all have a simple decision to make. And that is, to either accept or reject the question."

"What?" called out Temari, confused. "What's the catch? What happens if you reject the question?" Ibiki grinned, looking very pleased that someone had asked that question.

"The catch," he said, "is that if you refuse to accept the tenth question, you will fail immediately. You will lose all of your points, and will be disqualified from the Chunin Exam along with your entire team."

"Then why the hell would anyone want to reject the question?" Temari protested. "You're not giving us a choice at all!"

"You're forgetting the second half of the fifth rule," Ibiki said, looking even happier. He paused before continuing, clearly for dramatic effect. "If you accept the tenth question and get it wrong… You and your teammates will never be permitted to take the Chunin Exam ever again!"

The class erupted yet again, descending into near chaos. If Ibiki's other rules had been unreasonable, then this one was beyond description.

"You can't be serious!" yelled Kiba, ever the skeptic. "There are ninjas here who have failed the Chunin Exam before and came back to retake it! We know there are!"

"Then I guess it's just too bad for you to be taking it this year," said Ibiki, chuckling. "I wasn't making the rules in the past years. I am now!" He looked around at the class filled with Genin, most of whom had worried looks on their faces.

"Anyone who has doubts about their ability to answer this question would be wise to leave now," Ibiki advised them. "You can always just retake the Exam in another six months. It's really not a bad deal, when you think about it." The room fell into a deep silence; if Naruto had tapped his pencil on his desk, the noise would have echoed across the entire room.

"Ready?" asked Ibiki. "Then let's begin. Anyone who wishes to reject the tenth question should now raise your hand. You will immediately be disqualified, along with your entire team. You will then be recorded, and will leave the room."

_What kind of question is this?_ Naruto wondered, feeling that bothersome emotion of dread creep up him again. _If I get it wrong, I'll be stuck as a Genin for my entire life! That's not something I could live with! But if I reject the question…then Hinata and Sakura will have to fail along with me because I didn't have any guts! I couldn't live with that, either…_

"I quit!" said the Genin to the left of Naruto, raising his hand. He stood up, shoulders slumped, and began to leave the room.

"Number fifty-two, failed!" called out one of the proctors, recording it down on his clipboard. "Number one hundred-thirty! Number one hundred-eleven! You both fail as well!"

The quitting of number fifty-two seemed to set off an avalanche. Dozens of Genin began raising their hands in the air, deciding to play it safe and quit. It seemed that everyone else had been unwilling to quit simply for the sake of their pride, but were now lining up to leave now that there were other people already doing it.

Naruto's willingness to continue began to corrode. Seeing everyone else forfeit was beginning to convince him that it was the smarter choice to take. He had virtually nothing to lose, so why not? He looked over at Sasuke, and their eyes met. Sasuke looked as worried and unsure about himself as Naruto did. The look Sasuke gave him was one full of fear, one which Naruto couldn't help but return.

_Misery loves company_, Naruto thought. He looked down at his lap, and clenched his fists, gripping his pencil in one hand. He gripped it tighter and tighter until the small wooden stick snapped in two. He didn't bother to try picking up the pieces. He slowly looked back up and turned to Sasuke again.

The Uchiha was looking at him as if he were waiting for him to do something. Naruto gazed into his dark eyes, and saw his own hopes and dreams reflected in them. Sasuke had just as much to lose from this as Naruto did. Was he actually looking to Naruto for support?

Naruto gave Sasuke a questioning look, sending a silent message across. Sasuke looked back at him, his hands gripping the edge of his desk hard enough to turn his knuckles white. He turned to look down and exhaled a deep breath. Then, suddenly, he turned to look back up at Naruto. His eyes had a sort of determined look to them. He gave Naruto the slightest of nods. A silent agreement had been made between them. Who would have thought that two kids who hated each other so much could read each other's emotions so well?

Naruto turned back to Ibiki, who stood before the room of Genin with his arms crossed. Angrily, Naruto forcefully slammed his hand down on his desk and stood up.

"Don't underestimate us!" Naruto yelled fiercely. "We would never quit, not after getting this far! My team has been through everything you could imagine! Your stupid question is nothing! We'll get it right, then just move on to the next part of the Exam!"

"I'll repeat myself just this once," Ibiki said warningly. "This is a question that could very well affect the rest of your life. Quit now, while you still have the chance."

"_I'll_ repeat myself," Naruto growled, mimicking the instructor. "I said we're staying, and we're going to get it right. I never go back on my word, that's my nindo!"

No more Genin raised their hands to quit. Ibiki waited several moments, looking to his proctors for confirmation. They all nodded their heads at him. Naruto anxiously waited in his seat, preparing himself for the tenth question. Whatever it was, if it was half as hard as Ibiki made it out to be, it would be the hardest test question he'd ever had in his entire life…

"Well then, it looks like nobody else is going to quit," Ibiki stated, looking around the room again. "In that case…" he trailed off and cleared his throat.

_Here it comes… _Naruto thought.

"Congratulations," Ibiki said. "You've all just passed the first exam."

"Say what?" asked Sakura from the back. "What about answering the tenth question?"

"You already did," said Ibiki, his face splitting into a large grin. "The decision you had to make was the tenth question. And you all answered it correctly."

"Then what were all the other questions for?" asked Temari, looking furious. "It was all just an act!"

"It was not an act," said Ibiki. "They served a purpose."

"Such as?"

"They were to test your skills in gathering information. Cheating, in other words."

"But you said—"

"I said that there would be a two point deduction for each time you were caught," interjected Ibiki. "I did not say that you would immediately fail the test, or that cheating was even against the rules. That should have been a red flag right there."

Naruto laughed to himself nervously. He hadn't even tried to answer the questions or test his skills; he just used the test as a way to pull a prank on Sasuke.

"Once you got to the actual test, you may have noticed that the questions were a bit difficult," Ibiki went on. "Very difficult. So difficult, in fact, that no normal Genin would be able to have a chance at answering them correctly. The test practically demanded that you cheat. To help you Genin along, we had two Chunin who had memorized the answers put in among you."

At that, two ninjas sitting down in different parts of the room suddenly raised their hands, signaling that they were the Chunin. Ibiki continued.

"Many of you figured out the test was a trap; the others were probably too lazy to try and figure out the questions and only cheated to make things easier. The ones who were no good at information gathering, or cheating, were weeded out and failed." He reached up and removed the bandana on his head.

His head was bald, and riddled with scars from burn marks, slashes, and punctures where screws had been used. He had clearly been severely tortured some time in the past.

"Information gathering is a crucial skill that all Chunin would need. As leaders, getting the wrong information could cost them not just their own life, but the lives of their entire units." In his case, it looked like false information had gotten him tortured. He put the bandana back on, covering his hideous scars. "The information you obtain can't be trusted if you don't keep your presence a secret. If the enemy knows you're there spying, he'll toss out false information like a fisherman with a lure. Learn that and learn it well. Don't do the enemy's work for him and put yourself in danger. This is why you were all maneuvered into cheating. Those who were no good at secretly attaining information are not fit to be Chunin."

Naruto squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, and Temari suddenly called out again.

"But what was with the tenth question?" she asked. "I don't get its purpose."

"The tenth question was the first real test of the Chunin Exam," Ibiki said simply. "It gave you a nasty choice, a no-win situation. It basically put each of you in charge of your entire team. By choosing to stay, you could have potentially dragged your entire team to its destruction. Those who left took the easy way out, not to mention potentially going against the wishes of their fellow teammates. Now, all of you pretend that this had been a mission. You were the Chunin in charge of your team, and you had to decide between accepting a potentially deadly mission or staying home, keeping your asses safe from harm. You all accepted that dangerous mission, and are thus capable of attaining the rank of Chunin. No real leader would only take missions that were guaranteed to be safe. Doing safe missions are the job of Genin, and that's all the applicants who quit are fit to be. Well…the first exam is concluded. You all pass to the second stage. Good luck to all of you; you've proven you're capable of becoming Chunin."

"That's right we do!" said Naruto excitedly. He felt his confidence in his ability to be a Chunin revived. So what if he was no good at information gathering? He could get better at it later. He knew to make critical decisions on the fly, and that was something you couldn't improve.

Without warning, something smashed through one of the glass windows of the room, causing everyone to cry out in alarm. It spun in midair as it sailed across the room, and four kunais shot out, hitting the ceiling and floor in separate places. A large banner appeared, being held in place by the kunais. The strange object hit the floor… and stood up. It was a ninja, a Jonin kunoichi. She was wearing a large coat over a metal mesh suit and shinguards. Her hair was done up in a bun with spiky edges, and she wore a strange pendant hung around her neck that looked like a large talon or fang.

"None of you pathetic Genin are in any position to be celebrating!" she declared in a loud voice. "I'm Anko Mitarashi, the instructor for the second part of the Exam. And when I'm through with you, I guarantee there'll be less than half the competition left!"

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**Quote of the Day:**

"There are days when it takes all you've got just to keep up with the losers."

- Robert Orben


	15. The First Target

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 15: The First Target_

Three dead bodies lay before Orochimaru and his companions, and blood was splattered all over the nearby statues of Buddha.

"You two," the Sannin gestured at the two men closest to him. "Inspect their bodies carefully. Make sure your transformations are perfect. There can be no mistakes."

"Yes, sir."

"Right away, sir."

The men approached the corpses and began patting them down to feel for any belongings and stripping off their clothing.

"Silent and clean," Kabuto remarked happily. "See? I told you everything would turn out fine."

"The most critical part still lies ahead," Orochimaru replied testily. "You can relax when I tell you to—until then, stay sharp. The plan doesn't have any room for you to play your little games."

"Right, My Lord," he said, his voice adopting a more serious tone. "Of course."

Narrowing his eyes, Orochimaru gave Kabuto a withering glance, while the younger man stared back expressionlessly. After a long moment, he turned away, satisfied that Kabuto had received the message. "Kimimaro," he said, rounding on the other ninja beside him. The boy's skin was unnaturally pale, and his long hair was the same shade as Kabuto's. At the sound of his name, he stood up a little straighter, and he gave the Sannin his undivided attention. "How are things back home?" Orochimaru asked of him. "I hope you haven't allowed things to descend into chaos during my absence."

"No, My Lord," Kimimaro replied in a quiet voice. "Arashi and I made certain that everything continued running smoothly. No one else at the capital has realized that you are away. It seems that our excuse that you have fallen ill has worked."

"Excellent," said Orochimaru. "The kages and their entourages would have arrived by now, yes?"

"Yes, My Lord. Most of them arrived just as I was preparing to depart. Arashi and I did everything we could to welcome them and ensure that their stays would be comfortable."

"Excellent," Orochimaru repeated. "Unfortunate that I was unable to welcome them myself. Did you tell them as well that I was sick?"

"Yes, My Lord," the boy answered. "We informed them that you were temporarily unable to leave your private quarters, but that it was expected you would recover soon."

"Good, good," said the Sannin, nodding his head. "I'm glad to hear this. You've done your job well, Kimimaro."

"Thank you, My Lord," the boy said softly. Though his face remained expressionless, his eyes gave away that Orochimaru's praise had filled him with elation. He stood silently for a second before speaking again. "On that note, Arashi asked me to bring you a message, My Lord," he went on. "He wished for me to remind you that he would handle the meeting in your absence if you failed to return in time."

"Yes, I recall him mentioning that," replied Orochimaru with a nod of his head. "I may end up taking him up on his offer. Speeding back and forth between the capital and here can be such an inconvenience…"

Kimimaro nodded but said nothing; Kabuto cleared his throat in order to regain the Sannin's attention.

"Lord Orochimaru, about the plan here," he said, "I've reevaluated the applicants of the Chunin Exam. I believe it would be worth your while to hunt down more than the Uchiha." Orochimaru turned to face him, brow raised in interest.

"Really?" he asked. "What kind of _evaluations_ did you make?"

"There are two more carriers of bloodline limits competing than you previously noticed," Kabuto stated. "Carriers of the Byakugan," he continued.

"The…Byakugan?" asked Orochimaru, annoyance in his voice. "What on earth makes you think I want the _Byakugan_? Their bloodline limit doesn't copy techniques. It is useless to me."

"Of course getting the Byakugan rather than the Sharingan is not ideal," replied Kabuto; it was clear that he was choosing his words with great care. "But you know as well as I do that the survival rate for your curse seal is frighteningly low. What if the Uchiha dies? In that instance, you'd have no choice but to settle for some other host. Wouldn't it be nice if that host at least had some form of useful bloodline limit?"

"There are plenty of bloodline limit carriers locked up back home," Orochimaru responded, waving his hand dismissively. "I can simply use one of them."

"Yes, My Lord, you could," said Kabuto. "But not all of them are as youthful or as powerful as the Genin here. Not all of their bloodline limits are particularly useful. And not all of them have even received the proper training to increase their chakra reserves or minimize the amount of chakra they waste. Using one of these people as a host would…not be ideal." Orochimaru merely stared at him and said nothing; Kabuto sighed. "My Lord, whether you choose to go after these Hyugas or not doesn't affect me. I'm simply trying to look out for your best interests." The Sannin continued to stare at him for a moment longer before finally speaking.

"Let me see those cards of yours," he said. Kabuto quickly pulled them out of his pocket, activating them and handing them to his superior. Orochimaru snatched the two cards out of his hand and narrowed his eyes as he read the information displayed on them. After comparing them and flipping them over several times, he grunted.

"The boy seems to show promise," he commented. "But I'd have to find a way to cleanse him of that Branch Family seal before I could even think of using him as a host. The girl is unimpressive, but at least she has no such seal…" He loudly exhaled through his nose before looking up from the cards. "I will…consider it," he finally told Kabuto. "Once I have gotten to Sasuke, I will seek them out if time permits it and if they are easy enough to find. I'm not going to tear that entire forest apart looking for a couple of children I don't even want."

"Right, My Lord, of course," said Kabuto, nodding. Orochimaru pocketed the cards and turned to look back at the men ahead of him, who were finishing up their inspections of the dead bodies.

"Lord Otokage," Kimimaro spoke up again. "Regarding the concerns about the Uchiha not surviving the seal. I have a request from Amachi."

"Amachi?" Orochimaru asked, turning back around to face Kimimaro. "Is this about that 'special project' of his?"

"Yes, My Lord," Kimimaro said, nodding. "He believes it's the only way to guarantee you get the Sharingan."

"I doubt this project is anything more than a waste of time," the Sannin said, shaking his head slightly. "He has yet to prove otherwise. But fine. What is it he wants?"

"He requests that you obtain a sample of the Uchiha's blood," Kimimaro answered. He carefully pulled a small, clear glass vial out of his pocket and presented it to Orochimaru. "And that you store it in here."

"A blood sample?" Orochimaru asked with a hint of surprise in his voice, taking the vial from Kimimaro. "That simple, eh? I was expecting him to ask me to do something complicated… Very well. I'll get him his sample."

"He wished for me to express his thanks, My Lord," Kimimaro said. "He also wished for me to stress that the blood sample must not be…" His eyes widened suddenly and he paused, rapidly turning away from the others to cough violently into his hand. However, he recovered before either of the others could say anything, and cleared his throat before returning to face Orochimaru. "Excuse me. He wished for me to stress that the blood sample must not be contaminated. Allowing dirt or any other substance into the vial may ruin it. He suggests that as soon as the vial is filled, you immediately replace the cap and do not take it off under any circumstances."

"I'll keep that in mind," the Sannin said, an amused expression on his face. Placing the vial in the same pocket he had placed Kabuto's cards, he turned back around to face the men working on the dead bodies.

"I think we're just about done here, sir," said one of the men, standing back up.

"Good," said Orochimaru. "We don't have much time left. We'll be expected soon." Approaching one of the corpses, he quickly began turning her over, memorizing her appearance.

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"Thanks for the interview, Boss!" called out Konohamaru as he, Udon, and Moegi left.

"Sure thing Konohamaru!" Naruto called back. Konohamaru had stopped by just after Anko had led the remaining applicants to a strange dark forest, fenced off to the public. He had to do an interview for the Ninja Academy, and Anko called a ten minute break so he could do so.

The Konohamaru Ninja Squad had interviewed Team 7 one at a time, then left to go back to school. It was a little break from the rigors of the Exam, one that Naruto strongly felt he deserved. After the ten minutes was up, Anko stood before all of the gathered Genin.

"Well folks, here we are," she said, grinning. "The area for the second exam, Training Ground 44…also known as the Forest of Death!"

The crowd of Genin looked up at the forest behind her. The trees were mammoth, and the entire place looked dark and ominous. It was even worse than Akagahara.

"This place sure looks creepy," Sakura said, looking up at the dark trees. "I wonder what she'll make us do in there…"

"Fight to the death maybe?" Naruto suggested. Hinata grimaced.

"Oh, I hope not!" she said. "Maybe we'll have to race to a certain point or something, and those in last place are disqualified."

"Maybe…"

"Plenty of Genin have gone in here to take the second stage for the Chunin Exam," Anko continued. "A lot of them were never seen again. Now, all of you little snots get to experience the terror for yourselves!"

Naruto fumed. He was sick of everyone trying to scare him every single step of the way on the Chunin Exam.

"_Ooh!_" he said, putting his hands on his hips and waving his butt in the air, taunting the instructor's scare tactics. "_The Forest of Death! It's terrible! Better watch out, cause you're all gonna die!_" He stood up straight and pointed at Anko angrily. "You don't scare me! You're trying to psych us out, and I'm not falling for it!" Anko grinned at him.

"A tough guy, huh?" She produced a kunai from her sleeve and threw it at Naruto before he could move. It grazed his cheek, and warm blood dripped down his face. Moving too quickly for the eye to follow, Anko suddenly appeared behind him, face level with his. One of her hands was caressing his uninjured cheek, while she used her other one to finger his blood. "Your kind are always the first to go," she whispered in his ear. "Spilling warm, red, luscious blood everywhere…"

She quickly abandoned her twisted game with Naruto when a Grass Village Genin suddenly appeared behind her, holding the thrown kunai with her abnormally long tongue. She had long, dark hair and dark lips, and wore a large wooden hat that concealed most of her face in shadow.

"I believe you dropped this," she garbled out.

"Ah, thank you," said Anko reaching back to grab it. "I suggest you step away, unless you're in a hurry to die," she continued warningly.

"My apologies," said the Grass ninja. She seemed to have a slight smirk on her face, but it may have just been a trick of the light. "I meant no offense, it's just that the sight of fresh blood tends to drive me wild…" She touched the brim of her wooden hat and stepped away.

_Jeez_, thought Sakura in alarm. _We've got a nutcase for an instructor…and a nutcase as competition, too!_

Naruto rubbed his cheek as soon as Anko stepped away, removing the blood. _What's up with that freak's super long tongue?_ he wondered, unthinkingly sticking out his own tongue to see how far it would extend.

"Before we can begin the second stage, there's something I have to hand out," Anko stated to the Genin crowd, reaching inside her coat. She pulled out a thick stack of papers. "They're consent forms," she explained. "Everyone has to sign one."

"Why?" asked Naruto impatiently. "We already did something like that when we applied!"

"We want _all_ the details covered before the first deaths occur," answered Anko, smiling sweetly. "But first, I'll explain what the second stage entails. Once you have your forms signed, turn them in along with your entire team to the hut over there." She pointed out the structure, which had two Chunin proctors waiting in it. "Now, about the second stage. Basically, it's just an unrestrained, no-holds-barred, free-for-all survival test. Just like those cute training exercises you all did back in the Academy, only this time, it's literally to the death. Look, I'll explain the layout for all of you."

She pulled out a scroll of a map of the Forest of Death and held it up so that all of the Genin crowding around her could see it.

"The Forest of Death is bordered by a circular perimeter, interrupted at regular intervals by forty-four locked gates spaced evenly. Inside is, obviously, a forest, but a river also runs through it, and there's a tower in the center, roughly ten kilometers from the gates, or just over six miles. During the survival test, each team's ultimate goal is to collect one of both scrolls being handed out and making it to the central tower within five days."

"Scrolls?" asked Sakura, confused.

"Yes. There is a Heaven Scroll and an Earth Scroll. Each team will be issued only one. You will have to acquire one of the opposite sometime within five days, and make it to the tower in time. There are twenty-six total teams here, meaning that thirteen will get a Heaven Scroll, and the other thirteen will get an Earth Scroll."

"Wait!" interjected Sakura. "That means that in the best case scenario, only half of us will get to pass!"

"Exactly!" said Anko cheerfully. "You can use any measures you see fit to attain the needed scroll. In this stage, there is no such thing as excessive force. However, there are still rules to follow. The first one is that if your team doesn't reach the tower in time with both scrolls, you're disqualified. If you don't show up at all, you'll be lucky to get so much as a searching party. The second rule is, the entire team must be present to pass. If one of you dies, then the other two will fail. You're trying to achieve Chunin rank, you need to learn how to take care of your own team. The third rule is, under no circumstances can you leave the boundaries of the training area. No breaks, no recesses. And finally, you are not to look at the contents of your scrolls. Not even if you have both of them. You must wait to reach the central tower before you can look."

"What happens if you look anyway?" asked Naruto.

"That's for those who look to know!" she replied, and winked. "But seriously, Chunin are sometimes entrusted with top-secret documents. You'll have to prove you're more mature than curious little kids and can be entrusted with leading missions. Consider this a test of your trustworthiness." Anko wrapped up her scroll and pocketed it. The consent forms started circling around for the applicants to sign.

"Well, that's all the explanation you're gonna get," Anko said, hands in the pockets of her coat. "The proctors at the hut will exchange one scroll, chosen at random, for every three consent forms. When you get yours, get to the nearest unoccupied gate. That'll be your starting point. One final piece of advice… _Stay alive!_"

The applicants began lining up at the hut to receive their scrolls. A curtain was draped over the frame so that no one could see what scroll any other team was getting.

Team 7 turned in their forms and lined up at the nearest gate, marked as number twelve. It was locked, and a Chunin proctor stood there, waiting for the signal to unlock it.

"Are you ready for this, you guys?" Naruto asked, grinning at both of his teammates. Neither of them seemed to return his enthusiasm, though, returning only weak smiles in return.

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Orochimaru, assuming the identity of the Grass ninja that had been slain earlier, crouched by both of his teammates. Both of them were actually members of the Fuma Clan, and officers in the Otokage's Elite Guard; Arashi had made certain that these men were up to the task of aiding Orochimaru in this critical mission.

"There's been a change of plan," the Otokage in disguise said in the sultry voice of the female Grass Genin.

"What kind of change?" asked the Fuma named Hibiki. He had a symbol on his loincloth that read "crime." Orochimaru initially hadn't bothered to memorize their names, but he had wound up remembering almost on accident.

"There are two additional targets to find," Orochimaru said. He was careful to keep his voice low, so as to not alert the nearby proctor to his sinister intentions. There was no one else nearby to worry about. Maybe he could just kill him and drag his body into the forest, it wouldn't make that big of a difference…

"Do you know what they look like?" asked Takeshi Fuma. His assumed identity was considerably taller than Hibiki's, and wore what looked like a festival mask over his face.

"I can do better than that…" Orochimaru produced Kabuto's cards. He handed the one for Hinata Hyuga to Takeshi, and the one for Neji Hyuga to Hibiki. They both studied the cards carefully.

"I see…" murmured Hibiki.

"Find them, then follow them," ordered Orochimaru. "Once they lay down to sleep or rest for the night, report back to me and tell me their location. If possible, see if you can kidnap them and bring them to me. I will be going after the Uchiha personally."

"Understood," said Hibiki and Takeshi in unison. The Chunin proctor looked over in their direction curiously. It seemed a bit suspicious for normal Genin to answer one of their fellows in such a uniform fashion, like soldiers saluting their commanding officer…

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes at the Chunin as the man continued to look at them. Would he tell Anko what he had seen and heard? Would he be discovered prematurely? Did it really matter either way?

"You know what?" said Orochimaru, standing up from his crouching position. His two subordinates looked up at him. "Let's give ourselves a little head start into the forest."

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Anko checked her watch, waiting for the time to come to signal the beginning of the test.

"Alright everyone!" she bellowed. "The second stage of the Chunin Exam begins… _NOW!_"

The gates were quickly opened at the sound of her voice, and the competing Genin raced in.

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Team 8 leaped from tree to tree, with Sasuke in the lead. It was just fifty minutes since the test had begun, and they had already succeeded in getting their second scroll. They had set a trap using leeches that had captured a team of Rain Genin, acquiring their scroll in the process. Kiba whooped in delight as they traveled.

"I knew we were awesome!" he shouted. "We were lucky that the very first people we ran into had the Earth Scroll we needed. We'll beat Naruto and his team for sure now!" Akamaru barked in agreement with his master.

"Don't be overconfident," Shino advised. "The forest is still crawling with enemies, especially this early in the game. We could be intercepted if we're not careful."

"Ah, don't be a spoilsport!"

"Shino's right, Kiba," said Sasuke, turning his head to look back. "Shut the hell up!"

"Why don't _you_ shut up!" Kiba retorted furiously. "You always act like you're in charge of the team, and I'm sick of it!"

"Damn it Kiba, shut up before I make you!"

"Sasuke, you son of a—"

"Both of you, stop it!" Shino commanded. "Your immature behavior is a disgrace! Now both of you shut up, or _I'll _make you!" This was very typical of Team 8; Kiba would say something to annoy Sasuke, and the two would quickly begin arguing. Shino constantly had to step in and stop them, acting like a babysitter. Team 8 was hardly a team at all. Shino increased his pace and shot ahead of Sasuke.

"I'd like to see you try…" Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"I'd love it if you made me," Shino said back in a warning tone. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and he shut up. Kiba snickered behind him. They continued for several minutes before Kiba again spoke up.

"Hold on, Akamaru smells something!" he said, frantic. "And whatever it is, it's scaring the hell out of him!"

"What could it be?" asked Shino.

"I don't know…" Kiba said. "Akamaru can smell other people's chakra, so it must be an enemy he's smelling. Whoever he is, he must be dangerous. I've never seen Akamaru scared this badly before…"

They hopped along for a few more moments before what felt like a huge gust began to blow in their direction.

"What the hell?" Sasuke cried over the deafening noise of the wind. The wind quickly grew more powerful and violent, and Sasuke grabbed onto the trunk of the tree he had hopped on to anchor himself. Shino did the same, but Kiba was not so lucky.

He was caught by the gale in mid-hop, sending him flying off. He yelled and tried to grab a tree branch sticking out, but his grip on it slipped before the ferocity of the wind. He tumbled away, Akamaru clutching onto him.

Both Sasuke and Shino firmly held onto their trees, and endured the hurricane-force wind until it died away.

"Where's Kiba?" Shino called to Sasuke as soon as it quieted down.

"I don't know," he called back, breathless. The fierce wind had sucked the air out of his lungs, and he sat panting. "I think he fell."

"Then we have to find him!" Shino said, and hopped down to the ground. Sasuke took a deep breath and quickly followed. When they both landed, they looked around, searching for any sign of their teammate.

"Kiba!" Shino yelled.

"Kiba!" Sasuke called out, following Shino's example. "Where are you?"

"I'm right here, you dummy!" snapped Kiba, climbing out of some nearby bushes. He was slightly disheveled, but otherwise appeared fine. Akamaru wasn't with him, though.

"What happened to Akamaru?" Shino inquired as Kiba walked towards them. For a moment Kiba had a confused look on his face, as if he didn't know what Shino was talking about. He quickly went back to normal though, and scowled.

"I don't know where that stupid mutt ran off to," he said, shoving his hands into his pockets. "He was with me when I landed, so he must have just wandered off to look for you guys."

Sasuke shot Shino a glance, cocking his head towards Kiba slightly. Slowly, Shino gave a tiny nod, remaining completely expressionless. Sasuke nodded back, and turned back towards Kiba, who was looking at them suspiciously.

"What're you two looking at me like that for?" he asked angrily, narrowing his eyes. "I didn't do anything!"

Sasuke suddenly lunged at Kiba, and punched him in the face as hard as he could. With a scream of rage, Kiba was thrown back, and crashed into a nearby tree with a thud. Sasuke stood ready, kunai in hand.

"What the hell?" shouted Kiba furiously, climbing to his feet.

"Drop the act!" snapped Sasuke. "We know you're not Kiba!"

"You're out of your mind!" yelled Kiba angrily. "I am Kiba!"

"The real Kiba would not refer to Akamaru as 'a stupid mutt,'" said Shino, stepping forward. "He wouldn't even be here to call him that. He would be searching frantically for him until he was found, worrying about the rest of his team second."

"You're good at genjutsu, I'll give you that much," added Sasuke. "But you really have no idea what Kiba's like."

Kiba looked at them and suddenly smirked, a sinister look in his eyes as he wiped the blood away from his face where Sasuke had struck him. He was suddenly enshrouded in a cloud of white smoke. When it dispersed, a tall female Grass ninja stood in his place.

"Very clever," she said in a strangely deep voice. She took the wooden hat off of her head and placed it in front of her face. "This is going to be more fun than I thought!"

88888888

Kiba climbed to his feet unsteadily, Akamaru still clinging to the hood of his jacket. He had been lucky to land in a thick clump of bushes, breaking his fall from the treetops. He took Akamaru off of his hood and placed him in his arms. The puppy began shaking, sniffing the air nervously and whimpering.

"What is it now, boy?" asked Kiba. _What the hell happened in the first place?_ he wondered silently. _What was up with that huge wind? Some sort of tornado or something?_

A long shadow suddenly fell over him and Akamaru. He turned and looked up, wondering what could be big enough to create such a massive shadow. A cloud blocking the sun, maybe?

Instead, he saw a gargantuan snake towering over him. It was positively huge; its body was thicker than the trunks of the surrounding trees, and it was so long that he couldn't see where the tail ended from where he was standing. Its forked tongue flitted out, and it stared down at him hungrily. Kiba tried to scream, but all that came out was a sort of squeak. He felt paralyzed. Akamaru suddenly yelped in his arms, bringing him back to his senses. He turned on his feet and tried to run in the opposite direction, stuffing Akamaru into his jacket as he ran.

The snake lunged at him, but he jumped out of the way and its head crashed into the ground. With an angry hiss, it quickly recovered and chased after Kiba. It was incredibly fast; faster than Kiba expected a snake could move. In no time, it had cut him off and wrapped its tail around him before he could get out of the way. He yelled and struggled, trying to get free, but it was useless. The snake turned its head to look down at him, then swooped down on him and swallowed him whole.

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Team 7 trekked down through the forest, unsure of what to do next. They knew that they would have to find a rival team and take their scroll, but they weren't quite sure how to do it. Hinata had used her Byakugan to spot other teams making their way across the forest, but they were usually too far away and moving too fast for them to do anything about it. Eventually, she grew tired from using it for so long, and decided to give it a rest.

They trooped on for a while, picking their way along on the ground. There was no real rush, not this early in the test. They could have potentially raced to the central tower as fast as they could if they wanted to, but it would be pointless until they ran into another team and got the Earth Scroll.

At one point, Naruto stopped walking and stood in front of a bush. "I've gotta pee," he muttered, and started to unzip his fly.

"Not in front of us, you don't!" Sakura yelled at him. Hinata had seemed perfectly content with just looking in the opposite direction, but Sakura would have none of that. "Go do it where we can't see you!" she commanded. Naruto scowled at her, but hobbled off towards some trees farther away. Apparently, he really had to go.

The two kunoichi waited patiently for Naruto to return, but after several minutes passed with no sign of him, Sakura began to worry. Had something happened to him? Maybe she shouldn't have chased him off, after all. Another couple of minutes, and Hinata began pacing back and forth nervously.

"Sakura…" she began to say. However, she was prevented from saying another word by what sounded like a loud crash not very far away. Both of the kunoichis whipped their heads to look in the direction it came from.

It sounded like someone was screaming in the distance, and it rapidly got closer and louder. The screaming voice sounded tinny, as if the person had a can over their mouth. Suddenly, the shrieking person, a male Genin in what looked like a yellow rubber diving suit, crashed through some of the foliage and into their sight, hurtling through the air. He flew towards them and crashed into the thick trunk of nearby tree, cutting off his screaming as he slumped to the ground.

"What the—"

Naruto suddenly crashed through some bushes in the direction the strange Genin had come from, a look of fury on his face. He looked around in several directions before spotting Hinata and Sakura, along with the opponent collapsed on the ground.

"Naruto?" asked Sakura, confused. "Did you…?"

"Hold him down!" Naruto yelled angrily, running over to them. "He tried sneaking up on me when I was taking a piss!"

Sakura looked down at the Genin, but saw no reason to restrain him. He was clearly unconscious. His rubber suit was torn in some places, and what looked like some sort of metal breathing device on his face had been twisted and mangled; the symbol of the Rain Village was still clearly visible, however. She couldn't help but take note of his apparel; it appeared to be some sort of fancy SCUBA gear. She'd never actually seen a suit like it before, though she recalled hearing about the technology. As far as she knew, this kind of equipment didn't come cheap, and was generally only used by special military units, or by members of the nobility with more money than they knew what to do with. She found it odd that someone would choose to wear something like it on dry land, but she supposed this boy must have had his reasons.

Naruto quickly reached the Rain Genin and grabbed him by the shoulders, sitting him up and snapping Sakura's attention back to the situation at hand. The opponent's head lolled to the side, his breathing coming out ragged. Naruto tore the respirator off his face, revealing a very bloody mouth, and also lifted up the cloth covering his eyes. He hastily patted down the ninja, looking for any scrolls he might have had. He was disappointed. Cursing, Naruto released the Rain Genin and let him fall to the ground again

"Did you really take this guy out?" asked Sakura, somewhat surprised. She knew that Naruto had become a much better ninja ever since he first became a Genin, but she still wouldn't have expected him to fend off an ambush so easily. Perhaps the Rain Genin had simply made a mistake and given himself away, allowing Naruto to attack first.

"Yeah," answered Naruto, calming down. He exhaled a deep breath and sat down on a rock, covering his face with his hands. "I'm lucky that I noticed him in time when he tried to sneak up behind me, or else I'd probably be dead by now. It's a good thing that he was alone, too. If it was his whole team, I probably wouldn't have been able to beat 'em." Sakura found this surprising as well; she'd have expected Naruto to celebrate and boast about being an incredibly powerful ninja, not to reflect on how close he came to losing.

"Are you sure that he'd have killed you?" Hinata asked, expressing a look of fear. Naruto looked up at her.

"I don't know for sure," he said, shaking his head. "Maybe he would have just knocked me out or tied me up or something… Whatever." His eyes lingered on her for a few moments, then he got up from his sitting position and began walking away. "Come on, let's see if we can find anyone before the day is through."

"Are you just going to leave this guy here?" asked Sakura.

"What do you want to do with him?" asked Naruto. "Carry him? We don't have the time or energy to waste for something like that. Besides, he's an enemy."

"I know, but…"

"But what?" asked Naruto impatiently. Sakura sighed.

"I don't know," she said with a shrug, not sure what she was even asking. "Maybe we could bring him along as a hostage? In case his team attacks us again?"

"His team might have some way of tracking each other's movements," Hinata said. "For all we know, taking him with us would just make it easier for them to find us."

"I guess you're right," Sakura said with a sigh. It still struck her as wrong to leave someone alone and defenseless in the middle of a dangerous forest. _But he did attack_ us_ first. Better him than us, I guess._ "Let's just keep going."

Team 7 began walking once again, unaware of a lurking presence observing their every move.

88888888

"You'd like to have my scroll wouldn't you?" asked the Grass kunoichi, either unaware that they already had both scrolls or assuming that they would want to keep her from winning. She tossed aside her wooden hat and reached up to grab her face. She pulled down on her lower eyelid, revealing a sinister slitted pupil.

In that instant, Sasuke felt himself being dragged into a nightmare, a vision of his own death. There was nothing but red blood everywhere, obscuring his vision. A look of terror was plastered on his face as a thrown kunai pierced his skull. Then, abruptly, the vision ended. He fell to his knees and vomited.

He looked to his left to see Shino. For some reason, the boy was unaffected by the genjutsu that had been cast upon them, and he stood there stoically. The Grass ninja looked at him and scowled, annoyed that he was perfectly fine. Sasuke, still shaky, managed to climb back to his feet.

"The next time she's obviously going to cast a spell, you should close your eyes," Shino advised. So that was why he had been okay. "For starters, try not making eye contact."

"My, aren't we the smart one…" hissed their enemy. She pulled out a kunai, and flicked it at Sasuke. He desperately tried to move, but it was useless. He felt like he was paralyzed.

Shino quickly leaped and grabbed him, pulling him out of the path of the kunai. It hit the moist dirt with a plop, and Shino leaped on to a greater distance.

"Sasuke!" he yelled. "Snap out of it!" He quickly leaped to the tall branch of a nearby tree, bringing Sasuke with him. He sat down and looked around, watching out for the Grass ninja. Sasuke slowly returned to normal, and felt his limbs responding to his commands once again.

A long shadow suddenly fell on the tree they were sitting on. Sasuke slowly turned around, wondering what it could be. To his horror, he saw a giant snake above them, with its head reared back to lunge at them. He gaped at it in terror, and Shino turned to see it at the same time. Too slowly, Sasuke prepared himself to jump away. The snake was already moving to bite him, and he wouldn't be able to dodge in time. Shino suddenly grabbed his collar and tossed him off the tree before jumping off himself. He couldn't have done it any sooner; the snake's head crashed into the branch they had just been sitting in with a boom.

"Damn it, Sasuke!" he called. "What the hell's the matter with you?" The snake began to pick up its head. Shino extended his arms as he flew backwards, and a cloud of insects flew out, providing an effective smokescreen.

Sasuke landed on a tree not very far away, fighting with his inner panic and forcing himself to become useful. He didn't know what was affecting him like this. Was it still that genjutsu? The huge snake poked its head through the cloud of bugs, hissing angrily as they all stung and bit. Sasuke pulled out handfuls of kunais and shurikens and quickly hurled them at the snake before it could get any further. Even then he was still being controlled by his fear; he threw them desperately and inaccurately. They were nonetheless effective, penetrating the snake's skull and killing it.

It fell down and landed on a branch with a thud, jaws hanging open. Its scales suddenly cracked and parted. The Grass kunoichi rose up from within the snake's flesh, covered with blood and slime, but a sinister grin on her face. It seemed that she was controlling the snakes around here.

"Why don't you fight for yourself, Sasuke?" she hissed. "Are you too terrified to even move? You should remain on your guard, like good prey does! It makes the hunt so much more rewarding…"

She suddenly shot forward. Using some bizarre ability, she stretched herself out like a snake and wrapped herself around the branch as she rapidly drew nearer. Sasuke, determined to be of use, reached into his weapons pouch for more kunais. Before he could use them, though, a dozen of someone else's hit the branch right in front of the Grass ninja, making her stop in her tracks.

All of them looked up to see who had thrown them. To the surprise of the two Leaf Genin, Kiba stood there, Akamaru resting on his head. His arms were crossed and he had an angry look on his face. He was covered with slime and blood, just like the Grass Genin below.

"Kiba!" Shino called up.

"What a pleasant surprise," said the Grass ninja, looking up at the newcomer. "I hadn't been expecting you to escape my giant snake… Kiba Inuzuka."

"It took me and Akamaru forever to claw ourselves out!" Kiba called down angrily. Akamaru barked angrily and growled, mimicking him. "It was disgusting!"

"Kiba, stay out of this one!" Sasuke called up to him. "You'll just get yourself killed!"

"I already told you to quit being so bossy!" Kiba yelled back. He turned his attention back to the Grass ninja. "Hey, snake lady!" he yelled, pointing at her. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size!"

"Kiba, just _shut up!_" Sasuke looked over at the Grass ninja. How were they going to get out of this? She was way too powerful, and Kiba was likely to get her mad enough to kill them all. If Shino didn't have their scroll, he would have used it as a bargaining chip. As it was…

"Come on, Akamaru!" Kiba said to his dog. "Let's take this chick out!" Akamaru barked and wagged his tail excitedly. Kiba reached into one of his pouches and pulled out a small pill, then flicked it up to Akamaru. The puppy caught it in his mouth, then bared his teeth in a growl. His hair turned scarlet, and the hair on his back began to stand up like spikes. Akamaru grew larger, and Kiba bent low to accommodate his weight. The Genin folded his hands together, and blue chakra began to rise up from him in wisps.

"Beast Mimicry!" he called, his voice sounding lower and fiercer than normal, like an animal. His nails grew into claws, and his teeth became longer and sharper, turning into fangs. Akamaru above him turned into his mirror image, a perfect likeness of his transformation. "Man-Beast Clones!"

The enemy ninja looked up at them and chuckled, clearly amused. Kiba and Akamaru jumped off the tree branch in synchrony, aiming themselves at her. They began to spin in midair, slowly at first but they quickly turned into nothing more than giant blurs.

"Ultimate Taijutsu!" Kiba yelled. "Fang Over Fang!" He and Akamaru, spinning like enormous drills, homed in on the Grass kunoichi, who was still wrapped around the branch. They crashed straight into it, reducing it to splinters, but Sasuke couldn't see if they had actually hit her through all the dust and debris.

As soon as his vision was no longer obscured, he saw with dismay that the Grass ninja was standing on the branch of another tree, looking down on Team 8 with a smirk. Kiba and Akamaru looked up at her from where they had landed and snarled with rage.

"Impressive," she told him. "Your accuracy is phenomenal, considering the fact that there are two of you. Perfect coordination. However, you won't be able to hit me with such a direct and obvious maneuver. To take me down, you'll require something with more…finesse."

Kiba glared up at her, growling like an animal caged being poked with a stick. "Again!" he snarled. On all fours, both he and Akamaru hopped from branch to branch to reach the Grass ninja. "From different directions!" he yelled, beginning to rotate in midair once again.

Which one was which, Sasuke soon lost track. But one of them shot up and past the branch their enemy stood on, while the other got directly under. The one underneath her was deadly accurate, tearing through the branch from directly under her feet. She quickly leaped away before the branch was reduced to splinters, saving herself from falling. She seemed to have forgotten the first one, however. It had swerved in midair once it had gone around her, looping around to aim directly for her back.

Seconds before it reached her, she nimbly jumped underneath the branch, holding onto it with one hand as the spinning man-beast clone shot above her. She twisted in the air and jumped, landing back onto the branch. She had a grin on her face, as if she were having fun.

"That was better," she said. "Now if only…" She suddenly stopped talking and looked down at her feet curiously. Her expression turned to one of rage as she began shaking her legs wildly, as if something was stuck on them.

_What the hell is she doing?_ Sasuke wondered. His question was soon answered as what appeared to be a dark blanket began moving up her body, covering her. Shino's bugs were crawling all over her legs, and moving up her torso with alarming speed. With a scream of fury, she jumped off the branch and landed on another one, swatting at her legs and chest as the insects continued their attempt to completely smother her.

"Trying to get away won't help," Shino told her in a dark tone. "They'll just track you down no matter where you go."

She bent her neck to look down at her feet, then raised her fingers to her lips, forming a ring. She blew out her breath in a ferocious gale, one very similar to the one that had tossed Kiba aside earlier but on a smaller scale. All of Shino's insects were torn from her skin and sent flying in all directions. Kiba and Akamaru chose that precise instant to attack her once again, though this time they landed on the branch and sprinted at her from both directions instead of trying to do their drill attack.

For a moment it looked like they had her. Quickly, she turned to the one that was on the side of the branch away from the tree, and smashed her fist down. The branch shattered underneath the blow, and the Kiba clone yelped like a dog, tumbling to the ground as the branch fell out from under his feet. He hit the ground with a large thump, and turned back into Akamaru with a puff of smoke.

The real Kiba had nearly reached her when she swiftly spun on her feet and punched him. His head snapped backwards and he crumpled, falling off the branch.

Shino leaped from his own branch and grabbed him, saving him from a terrible fall. They landed on the ground, where Shino set Kiba down. The Grass Genin, wary of the threat of Shino's bugs, leaped to another tree, one closer to Sasuke and away from Shino.

"Look at you!" she hissed at Sasuke angrily. "You refuse to dirty your hands and fight me! The last of the Uchihas turns out to be nothing but a coward!" She quickly reached for her weapons pouch and withdrew a kunai, while Sasuke only gaped at her. "You truly are pathetic," she continued, choosing to continue berating hm instead of immediately attacking him. "It's clear that you'll never come anywhere close to your brother's level. Fighting your teammates has proven most entertaining, but you, I'm afraid, are nothing more than a huge disappointment. You are useless to me; it seems I will have to search elsewhere to find the skill I seek…" She trailed off mysteriously, grinning down at him. She leaped from her branch, aiming herself precisely so she could impale him. To Sasuke, she seemed to fall in slow motion.

_She's going to kill me_, he thought. _Why can't I bring myself to fight? Am I really that worthless? Just like Itachi said… Itachi…_

He stared up at the Grass ninja, an intense rage quickly growing and dominating his mind. _If I can't kill her, then how can I possibly hope to kill Itachi?  
_

She had gotten so close that he could see the whites of her eyes. She was smiling as she descended upon him, seemingly eager to kill him. Sasuke blinked, then reopened his eyes.

She reared her arm back to stab him, and he saw straight through it. He quickly moved to dodge her lunging arm with a speed and grace that he'd never achieved before. Unfortunately, despite how quickly he moved, he had reacted too late to dodge the attack completely; the kunai grazed his shoulder, slashing through the cloth and biting into his flesh. He rapidly leaped to a nearby branch and away from the Grass ninja before she could try attacking again.

_How did I just do that?_ Sasuke wondered with awe. He had never been able to see like this before, or move the way he had. The Grass ninja turned to look at him, an even wider grin on her face than before.

"So," she said, her voice filled with glee. "Your Sharingan has awakened at last."

_Sharingan!_ Sasuke realized. _Of course! It only activates when you're in a life-threatening situation!_

Curiously, she simply stood there for a moment, and pulled what appeared to be a tiny glass vial out of her pocket. Removing the cap, she took the bloody kunai in her hand and allowed some of Sasuke's blood to drip inside; she then replaced the cap and put the vial back into her pocket.

Sasuke stared at her in confusion, wondering what on earth that was all about. However, he wasn't going to wait around to find out. He leaped further away from her, pulling out an array of weapons as he flew. His feet connected with the tree branch above him, and he jumped off, throwing a handful of kunais at the Grass ninja as he sailed towards her.

Returning her attention to him, she swiftly moved to dodge all of them, but Sasuke was able to see her perfectly, and plan the trajectory of his next attack. It was one he had been wanting to try for a while, but hadn't been able to pull off right. But now, with his Sharingan…

He jumped again and grabbed onto the trunk of one of the trees, and hurled a large shuriken at her. It caught her by surprise as it flew towards her face, and she quickly dipped her head underneath it before it could impale her. She leaped into the air, presumably to throw off the aim of Sasuke's next attack. But armed with the Sharingan, such efforts against him were futile.

Still holding onto the tree trunk, he twisted and pulled out a kunai attached to a thin metal wire. Bringing it up to his mouth, he set it ablaze with his fire ninjustsu, then threw it at her, clamping down on the wire with his teeth. He completely turned around and held onto the trunk with both his hands, anchoring himself and preventing him from plummeting to the ground.

The Grass kunoichi, who had landed on a branch near Sasuke's tree, moved to dodge it.

The flaming kunai caught her attention, and she turned her head to look at it. That proved to be her undoing. She missed Sasuke's third shuriken, which was attached to a string as well. She turned back around just in time for it to impale her face, sending blood everywhere. Despite the severity of the wound, she simply stood there, looking more like she was stunned than on the verge of dying, as she should have been.

Sasuke, however, wasn't finished with his attack yet. He quickly replaced the kunai's string with the shuriken's, putting it in his mouth and folding his fingers across it. Before the Grass ninja could wrench the shuriken out of her face and evade, he spat flames, which rapidly traveled the length of the wire and hit her in the face. Her face and hair set alight, and she flailed her arms.

Satisfied, Sasuke opened his mouth and let the charred wire slip out, but kept his grip on the tree trunk, lest he fall. Before long, the fire on the Grass ninja's face went out seemingly of its own accord, and she stood there, arms hanging limp at her side as dark smoke rose from her hair.

"This is your first time using the Sharingan?" she inquired, not looking up. "Amazing. I believe that there is something in your eyes that not even Itachi has…" She looked up, and Sasuke saw her face. It was burnt to a crisp, revealing what appeared to be a second face underneath. The face of the Grass Genin appeared to have been nothing more than a mask, the result of some perverse jutsu.

"In fact," she went on, "I think I want you after all!" Her voice had completely changed pitch by now, turning from a sultry feminine one to a masculine one that was high and slightly nasal.

Shino suddenly leaped down from above Sasuke to land on a tree branch several feet above him.

"Did you defeat her?" he asked.

"It's a he," said Sasuke hoarsely. Shino peered at the Grass ninja carefully, just as he raised his hand to his forehead protector. Steam seemed to rise from it for a moment; when he withdrew his hand, it revealed the symbol of the Hidden Sound Village. He had been an imposter through and through.

"Who are you?" asked Shino, disgust in his voice.

"I am Orochimaru, the master of snakes," answered the Sound ninja. "And Sasuke…if you'd ever like a rematch, then pass the Chunin Exam as soon as possible." Orochimaru grinned, then extended his neck as if it were a rubber band, shooting straight at Sasuke. Before he could release the trunk of the tree, Orochimaru reached him, biting down on his neck like a vampire. He quickly withdrew, his neck shrinking back to its correct size.

Sasuke's Sharingan deactivated, and he felt nausea shoot through him. His grip on the trunk slowly weakened, until he passed out and let go completely. Shino quickly reached down and grabbed his collar, bringing him up to rest on the same branch as him.

"What have you done to him?" yelled Shino. Even as he looked down at Sasuke, he saw what looked like some sort of tattoo begin to form on his neck, with three dots shaped like pinwheels.

"I've just given him a little gift," Orochimaru answered. "Very soon, your teammate will seek me out, thirsting for more power. You can count on it…" He formed several hand seals, then sank into the branch underneath him as if it were water, disappearing.

After several moments passed, when it became clear that Orochimaru was truly gone, Shino looked down at the unconscious Sasuke. _Great_, he thought. _Now I've got two teammates to take care of._

88888888

Anko sped through the forest as fast as she could move. Her muscles cried out in protest, but she ignored them. She had to find him, before it was too late…

Finding the ruined gate covered with blood at gate fifteen had been bad enough, along with recovering the Chunin proctor's mangled corpse hidden under some bushes almost a kilometer into the forest. But when she had been taken to see the three Grass bodies with heir faces melted off…

It was Orochimaru. He was back. For what, she didn't know. All she did know was that she would kill him now, even if it cost her her life.

She bound from tree to tree, desperately trying to find him before sundown. Her wishes were granted when she miraculously located him trying to hide inside of one of the trees she had jumped on.

"Welcome back," she said quietly, not bothering to turn around and look at him. She knew he was there; she could sense him. She quickly pulled a handful of needles out of her sleeve, placing them in the webbings of her fingers. She spun around to face Orochimaru at the same time he shot out his enormous tongue to wrap around her wrist, making her release her needles. She quickly grabbed onto the slimy appendage with both hands, at the same time shooting out snakes from her sleeves to wrap around it. It was ironic, using Orochimaru's own tricks against him.

She tugged on the tongue as hard as she could, tearing him out of his tree and towards her. He collided into her, and she rapidly rammed him into the tree they were standing on, holding him in place. She held one of his hands against the trunk, and she stabbed her own hand with a kunai to anchor him down along with her. She quickly grabbed his other hand and manipulated its fingers to match her own. He looked down at their hands in shock.

"That's right," Anko whispered, coping with the pain from her self-inflicted wound. "We're going to die here, together…"

It was one of Orochimaru's tricks, and a forbidden jutsu. By committing it, the user would die, and drag the victim with them. It wasn't as fancy as summoning the Death God, but it got the job done.

"You mean to sacrifice yourself?" asked a familiar voice behind her. "How noble. However, you will die alone… That's a clone you're holding down."

Anko looked at the Orochimaru before her in dismay; it slowly turned into wet mud and melted away. She wrenched the kunai out of her hand, and turned to look at the real Orochimaru, who was sitting in a high branch well away from her. He still had part of the Grass Genin's face on him, which he quickly pulled off. It stretched like elastic before finally coming off, revealing Orochimaru's true face underneath.

Slanted eyes, white skin, and slitted pupils were his true form. He looked down at her and smiled.

"Try not to squander every trick I ever taught you in the first five minutes of a fight," he told her. She scowled up at him. He formed a seal with one of his hands, and she suddenly felt an intense pain in her neck, which quickly spread to the rest of her body; it was her seal, the one he had given her all those years ago.

"Why are you here?" she asked him through gritted teeth. Despite her best efforts to resist the effects of the seal, she was soon collapsing to her knees. "What are you planning?"

"Judging from your reaction, one might get the impression that I'm not welcome around here," Orochimaru said. "But luckily, I know better than that, and I forgive your lack of hospitality." He looked down at her smugly, basking in the waves of hatred she sent in his direction.

"What are you doing here?" she repeated. "Are you planning on assassinating Lord Hokage?"

"Heavens no!" Orochimaru exclaimed, feigning shock. "I lack the courage to meet him face to face, and I don't have enough subordinates to try such a feat anyhow."

"Liar!" she said angrily. "There's no other reason you'd come here!"

"Why must you always assume the worst about me? I'm merely here to do some recruiting," he told her with a grin. "Just inspecting the best talent the villages have to offer. And this Exam's selection is truly extraordinary! There were so many impressive Genin that I hardly knew where to begin! But began I have. I just finished giving my seal to one of the many Genin I had my eye on."

"You fool!" shouted Anko. "Anyone you bite will die!"

"There's a nine-in-ten chance you're right," conceded Orochimaru. "Which is why it's so important to make sure I give my seal to more than one! If I give it to enough of them, surely one of them will survive the process…at least, I hope so."

"You monster!" she spat.

"Don't be like that, Anko," chided Orochimaru. "It's merely a matter of self-preservation. Surely everyone has the right to try and prevent their own deaths?"

"Monster…" Anko repeated, though much weaker this time. The seal seemed to be affecting her greatly.

"You know," he went on, "one of the candidates I have my eye on reminds me of you. Utterly unimpressive abilities, but a pretty face and a can-do attitude. Hopefully, if she survives the process, she'll actually prove to be of use…unlike you." At this, he stood up and dusted off his clothing, while Anko continued to glare up at him. Her gaze, however, was beginning to grow unfocused, and she looked like she was about to faint.

"And don't you dare try and rob me of my fun, Anko," he went on, "by going and canceling the Chunin Exam. If you do, I will be very displeased with your behavior…and be forced to discipline you by annihilating the Hidden Leaf Village. Now, be a good student while I'm gone…" He smirked, then performed his disappearing jutsu once again, sinking into the branch below him.

Anko tried to shout one final curse at him, but found herself unable to do so. Her arms gave out and her eyes rolled up into the back of her head just as he disappeared from view, and darkness consumed her.

888888888888

I think it's kind of important that all of you have a basic understanding of the geography of the Naruto world before continuing this story. For that reason, I'd suggest looking up a map; the website that goes by the name of "Leafninja" seems to have a good one. It's not really important _yet_, but the geography becomes very relevant later on in the story, which is why it'd be preferable for readers to learn about it.

**Quote of the Day:**

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on."

- George W. Bush


	16. Prey

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 16: Prey_

Rock Lee, Neji, and Tenten were gathered in a small clearing. Lee was gobbling up a fruit, while Tenten sipped from a cup of water. Neji merely sat there, kunai in hand.

"It's finally night," he said. "That means it's time we acted. All of the other teams will be tired by this time, and be easy pickings. We should conduct individual reconnaissance missions for the next half hour, and see if we can find any teams. But whatever you find, we all need to be back here by the time the half hour is up." He stabbed his kunai into the dirt underneath him. "Got it?"

"Okay," said Tenten.

"Roger!" said Lee enthusiastically, saluting. All three of them leaped off in different directions. Seconds after they left, a fourth ninja, one squat and somewhat fat, emerged from some nearby bushes and walked over to where Neji had placed his kunai. The ninja had a wooden hat on, and a loincloth with the symbol for "crime." He knelt down by the kunai, and pulled out what appeared to be a small paper, then wound it around the handle. Among the small cloths covering the weapon, the minute white paper became invisible.

Satisfied, the ninja got back up and leaped away.

88888888

Orochimaru waited by a tree near the gate his team of imposters had used to enter the Forest of Death, wondering when his spies would return, or if they would even return at all. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Hibiki and Takeshi bound into sight together, apparently catching up with each other on their way back to report to Orochimaru.

As soon as they landed at his feet, they promptly bowed low in submission to his authority. They slowly stood up straight, seeing his face clearly for the first time.

"Lord Orochimaru!" said Takeshi in surprise. "Your disguise!"

"I no longer have any need for it," Orochimaru answered. "I've been discovered."

"But… how?" asked Takeshi. "Your skills should have been more than enough to−"

"I did it on purpose, you fool!" snapped Orochimaru impatiently. "I ran into an old disciple of mine, and she would have been able to recognize me no matter what mask I was wearing."

"Forgive me," said Takeshi, bowing his head. "I should have known."

"What have you two to report?"

"I successfully tracked down Neji Hyuga, as per your orders," said Hibiki. "His entire team has split up to reconnoiter the forest. If you can locate him in time, you should be able to have caught him alone and vulnerable."

Orochimaru nodded. Targeting Sasuke had almost ended in disaster thanks to his teammates; if Neji was alone, then it would make things much easier. He turned to Takeshi.

"And what do you have on Hinata?"

"I was able to locate her team earlier today," he responded. "I followed them until they set up camp in a small clearing. They will most likely remain there for the duration of the night."

"Excellent," said Orochimaru. "I will be able to wrap things up before morning, then. I will have to find Kabuto, then I must return back to the Empire."

"Er, urgent matters?" asked Hibiki curiously.

"Diplomacy," replied Orochimaru with disgust. The snake master was many things. Diplomatic wasn't one of them. "I still need to see if I can form a working alliance with Water, Earth, and Lightning, along with Wind; it's part of the full plan."

"Ah, so you aim to have a complete set!" said Hibiki, amused. "An alliance between four out of the Five Great Shinobi Nations would be a force to be reckoned with. But what of the other, minor shinobi nations, like Grass and Rain?"

"Rain, Grass, Waterfall and the various non-shinobi nations are too dependent on Fire," said Orochimaru, waving his hand in dismissal. "They would have too much to lose if they wage war against it and lose. Losing their trade agreements would ruin them."

"But… Fire is very influential," said Hibiki. "It is powerful enough to potentially drive even the other Great Shinobi Nations to poverty, if it breaks all trade with them. Look at Water, for example. It's an island nation, and almost completely dependent on the fuel for ships that comes from Fire. If Fire were to do an embargo…"

"We can always find ways around that," Orochimaru said. "Wind could serve as an alternate source, or even Lightning."

"My Lord?" said Takeshi questioningly. "Lightning? The Land of Water and the Land of Lightning have had a disastrous past of naval warfare. It is so bad, in fact, that it may be that you can have one in your alliance but not the other."

Orochimaru wished that that statement wasn't true, but it was. Years ago, the ambitious nations had clashed in a war that had ended in a humiliating defeat for Lightning. Keeping both Water and Lightning in a fully cooperative alliance would probably be difficult, if not impossible. But perhaps it wouldn't matter; he could probably keep one or the other and still have enough manpower to crush Fire. Especially once Konoha was gone.

"How are the negotiations proceeding?" asked Hibiki hesitantly, hoping he wasn't overstepping his bounds as a grunt.

"The Kages for Cloud, Stone, and Mist have arrived at the capital by now," answered Orochimaru. "The Kazekage has also arrived, needing to work out some last minute arrangements. Arashi is tending to them, opening up the negotiations before I arrive. If I were to stay much longer, even for just the remaining four days of this test, the negotiations will have ended. I will have to hurry back to make sure things occur smoothly."

Both Hibiki and Takeshi exchanged glances at this. Takeshi finally spoke.

"Arashi, as great a man as he is, isn't really cut out to be a diplomat," he said cautiously. "He can have a terrible temper. He sometimes flies into a rage at only the tiniest of insults, regardless of who the person in question may be. If he were to do this with the Kages…"

"This alliance has the potential to fall apart even before it is formed," continued Hibiki. "It otherwise would have an excellent chance of working out, at least for most of the countries, but if Arashi screws it up, the alliance will be limited to Sound and Wind."

"I know that," said Orochimaru, irritated. "I'll just have to hurry over there as soon as possible. Which brings us back to our little hunt. I will go after Neji now. You two, go and see if you can kidnap Hinata while she sleeps."

"Yes!" they said in unison, saluting. The three of them leaped off in separate directions.

88888888

Team 7 sat in a circle, cards in hand, a small fire being their only source of light and warmth. Though playing poker had only started as a way to pass the time and wait for Kakashi to arrive, it had become a ritual of sorts to the Genin team. Even here, in the Forest of Death, they willingly squandered their pay in foolish wagers.

Was it just a way of warding off their larger fears? Perhaps. But whatever the reason that they were drawn to play, it proved an effective distraction from the darkness that surrounded their tiny camp, seemingly closing in on them. They played until the fire was reduced to nothing but a pile of smoldering embers, at which point they were too sleepy to make smart decisions to play.

None of them were equipped with anything even resembling survival gear, since they had all been led straight from the first test to the second. They didn't have any sleeping bags, food, or matches. Naruto had started their fire by repeatedly striking one of his kunai blades with a rock until he got a spark, igniting the pile of dry sticks below him.

Exhausted, Naruto went and grabbed a handful of fallen leaves and threw them over the hot embers. They caught on fire, and he went and got an armful of sticks and branches to toss over the small flame and keep it alive. He went back to where Sakura and Hinata were waiting for him, and saw that Sakura had fallen asleep, cards clutched to her chest. Hinata also looked like she was nodding off, her eyelids flickering. He walked over to her, almost tripping over his own feet as he ambled along tiredly.

"Let's go to sleep now," he murmured. "We've had a long day."

She looked up at him, surprised. It looked like she hadn't even noticed him walking up to her and was abruptly alerted to his presence when he had addressed her.

"Yeah," she said slowly, nodding her head. Her hair bounced up and down as she did so, and Naruto dimly realized that he found it adorable. "We've had… a long day…" Her mouth opened in a huge yawn as she shut her eyes. He thought that was cute, too.

It _had_ been a long day. They had jumped all over the place trying to locate a rival team, but their search had been fruitless. They only wound up exhausting themselves, getting Sakura cranky and irritable until they decided to set up camp for the night. Perhaps the next day they would have better luck.

He kneeled down beside her and took her cards so he could put them away, clumsily grabbing her entire hand in the process. Her hands were still soft and warm even on this cold night, something he had learned to appreciate every time he touched them. He took her cards and put them away, then went over to where Sakura lay.

She was still hugging her cards to her chest, and he lifted up her arms so he could take them. When he saw her hand, he felt like laughing. She was holding a straight flush.

_The only time she gets a chance to win, she falls asleep…_ he thought, amused. He put the rest of the cards away and put the box in his back pocket. He threw some dirt on the camp fire, extinguishing it. The only light they had now was from the moon, which shined its pale light on the forest.

Sakura rolled over to lay on her side as Naruto sat himself down. He was between both of his teammates, and he turned to see Hinata. She had already fallen asleep as well, laying on her back with her hands clasped on her stomach. He stared at her profile in admiration as her chest rose and fell.

_So pretty… _He wasn't sure what it was about her that made him feel so warm and peaceful; Sakura never did that to him, and he was supposed to have a crush on her.

_Maybe I don't have a crush on her after all…_ he thought sleepily, not noticing the implications of such a statement. He yawned, then lied down and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the ground.

88888888

Neji walked along through the forest, keeping a sharp lookout with his Byakugan for a nearby team. He may have been willing to take any random team's scroll, but he silently wished to find one team in particular out of all of them.

_Where is she…_

He suddenly noticed a disturbance in the trees several dozen meters behind him, a person was approaching fast. He actually allowed a small grin to slip. How lucky was he to actually have someone run into him, instead of toiling and waiting for the opposite?

The enemy ninja, like some sort of stalker, shot to a tree directly behind him, incredibly fast but completely silent. If it weren't for his Byakugan, he might not have noticed this rival until far too late. He stopped walking and stood in place, keeping his back to the intruder.

"Whoever you are, you might as well just come out," Neji called out. Even at this distance, he heard the ninja behind him begin to chuckle. It was a high masculine voice, one he didn't recognize. He turned around to face him.

"Well, it looks like the Byakugan _does_ have it's uses," hissed the man. He looked like some sort of albino, with his eyes bordered by what looked like purple rings. He had long dark hair and a Sound Village headband. Whoever this competitor was, Neji couldn't recall ever seeing him before. Someone like this certainly would have stood out, even among a hundred other freaks.

"Who are you?" asked Neji suspiciously. "Are you after my scroll? Well, you're out of luck. I'm not carrying it." The man laughed.

"Your scroll?" he asked, amused. "I have no use for such a document. As for my name, I am Orochimaru."

"Orochi… who?" Neji looked up at him, narrowing his eyes. Something about that name seemed vaguely familiar. Not from…

_The Bingo Book?!_

"You're an S rank missing-nin!" accused Neji. What was Orochimaru doing back in his home village?

"You recognize me," said Orochimaru, grinning. "I'm flattered."

"I don't know why you're here, but you better leave," warned Neji. "It won't be long before shinobi hunters pick up your scent and track you down."

"Perhaps. But I have a preposition for you, Neji Hyuga."

"How do you know my name?!" yelled Neji.

"You are a member of the Branch Family of the Hyuga Clan," Orochimaru continued. "Your father was brutally killed by the Main Branch, and your considerably weaker cousin is held in higher regard simply because of the circumstances of her birth."

Kabuto's cards had provided plenty of information for Orochimaru to use against the Hyuga.

"You…" Neji looked up at him furiously. "How do you…"

"You have a cursed seal placed on your forehead, making you a slave to the Main Branch," he went on, as if he hadn't heard Neji. "It is your task to protect the secret of the Byakugan with your very life, which turns out to be a thankless job. The Main Branch shuns you, labeling you as inferior, yet expects unswerving obedience and loyalty. If you were to step out of line… they would kill you."

"_Shut up!_" yelled Neji, enraged. Orochimaru smiled down at him.

"But what if I were to tell you that I can take away your seal? I could free you, Neji. If you accept my proposal, you will become more powerful than you can imagine. You can avenge your father, and wipe out the Main Branch!"

"_I told you to shut up!_" Neji screamed, completely losing himself. He leaped at Orochimaru, who sat in his tree smugly. As soon as he neared him, Orochimaru shot out his arm like a rubber band, stretching it out to ridiculous proportions. He grabbed Neji's throat and slammed him down to the ground.

He lay dazed for a moment, blood streaming from his nose and mouth. As he climbed to his feet, he was shocked to see Orochimaru already standing in front of him, moving from the tree without making the slightest noise.

"Now Neji," he scolded. "There's no reason we can't be civilized."

"You… you're a…" Neji looked up at him, unable to describe the man's incredible evil. He slowly got into his Gentle Fist stance, reactivating his Byakugan. Orochimaru smirked.

"You wish to fight me?" he asked, amusement in his voice. "I have already fought once today, I figured we could just get it over with without so much fuss."

"Get what over with?" asked Neji suspiciously. "I… I don't care what you have to say. I decline your offer."

"A pity…" Orochimaru lunged at him, and he leaped backwards and away from him. He skidded to a halt, watching his every movement with scrutiny. Orochimaru was an incredibly powerful ninja; he couldn't afford to make any mistakes in a fight with him.

Orochimaru's grin seemed to be permanently fixed to his face, only growing wider at Neji's evasion. Without warning, he stretched his neck out and shot his head at Neji, mouth open and fangs gleaming.

"Rotation!" Neji yelled, spinning in circles. Orochimaru's face bounced off the wall of defensive chakra, and he retracted it. Neji slowed to a stop, ready to perform the same maneuver again if need be.

"You are an expert in defense," Orochimaru said. "Why don't you show me how you attack?"

"I'm not going to play right into your hands," said Neji. "If you want me, you'll have to come and get me."

"As you wish." Orochimaru darted towards him, not shooting his head out like before. He was incredibly fast, slipping in and out of Neji's normal line of sight frequently and irregularly, making him very hard to track. If it wasn't for his Byakugan, he probably wouldn't have been able to see him at all.

He suddenly made a swift lunge, and Neji rolled out of the way to dodge him. He bounced back to his feet, but Orochimaru had quickly moved behind him in the short time that had elapsed. His arms shot out, trying to grab him.

"No!" Neji shouted, and quickly set into his Rotation. He barely did it in time. As he rotated, he quickly grabbed Orochimaru's wrists before he could take them back. Orochimaru blinked in surprise; he hadn't been expecting that.

Neji yanked on his arms with the full force of his Rotation, lifting him up into the air in a spin as he hissed in rage. He released him as soon as the spin reached its peak, and sent him hurtling into the trunk of a tree only several yards away.

The resounding _crack_ as Orochimaru struck the tree carried surprisingly far, and it looked like his spine had been broken. Neji looked on at his body, panting. The Rotations were beginning to take their toll on him.

To his horror, Orochimaru began to stand up, straightening out his back as if he had barely been injured at all.

_What is he?_ In desperation, he realized that he only had one more trick up his sleeve, and he had to use it now before Orochimaru had fully prepared himself.

He quickly widened his stance and bent low, his left arm near the ground in front of him while his right arm extended behind him. Byakugan activated, he unleashed his ultimate assault on Orochimaru.

"Eight Trigrams, Two Palms!" he cried, striking the Sound ninja once in the upper chest and once in the lower stomach. Orochimaru stumbled backwards, clearly in shock, but the attack was just beginning.

"Four Palms!" he yelled again, this time fiercely dealing blows in four different places on Orochimaru's body. "Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms!"

Faster and faster he struck, his hands completely untraceable. Orochimaru was frozen in place, unable to move out of the way of Neji's ferocious attack.

"Thirty-two Palms!" Neji's hands were nothing more than a blur at this point, faster than ever. But his attack was barely even half completed.

"Sixty-four Palms!" he cried, completing the assault. His hands were more than mere blurs by now; they were like lightning itself, striking so many places so fast that any normal person would have been completely incapable of doing it. Neji was not a normal person; he was a Hyuga.

Orochimaru let out a strangled cry and was thrown backwards, rolling for several feet before slowing to a stop. He didn't move from his crumpled position on the ground. Neji exhaled deeply, and let his arms rest at his side, standing normally again. His Byakugan deactivated.

He narrowed his eyes at Orochimaru's body. Yes, he had just pressed one hundred twenty-six of his chakra points, but still, it just seemed too easy…

His fears were confirmed when Orochimaru climbed to his feet with a fluid grace that should have been impossible for someone just subjected to an incredible assault. A normal person wouldn't be moving at all.

"Very good, Neji," said Orochimaru. His enormous pink tongue shot out through his parted lips, something he seemed to do whenever he was excited. "You are even more powerful than the Uchiha. You are a genius shinobi; I'm afraid I can't simply let you slip away. I'll make you a deal you can't refuse…"

With that, he reached up to his face with his hand and pulled down one of his lower eyelids, revealing the shiny pink flesh underneath.

Neji was caught off guard, not expecting a genjutsu. He was suddenly greeted with a terrifying and gory vision of his own death, his vision going red. The genjutsu dispersed as quickly as it had come, but its effects were much harder to overcome. Nausea filled him, starting in the pit of his stomach and rapidly spreading to every part of his body. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, landing in a pool of his own vomit.

He groaned and struggled to get up, but it was useless. He barely knew which direction was up, let alone left or right. Every time he tried to move, it sent another shiver of nausea coursing through him.

Orochimaru walked up to where he lay and picked him up by the shoulders. Neji, on the verge of completely passing out, didn't even try to resist. His head lolled to the side, eyes unfocused. Orochimaru grinned and bit him on the neck, piercing his skin with his sharp fangs.

As Orochimaru withdrew, some blood began to flow from the puncture wounds. A few seconds later, a seal began to appear in the form of three pinwheel dots. Neji had fainted by then, hanging in the air limply. Chuckling to himself, he threw Neji's body to the ground and went off to complete his hunt.

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Rock Lee and Tenten stood in the small gap between the tree where they had been a little over half an hour earlier. Neji's kunai was still in the ground, but the Genin himself was not present.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Tenten asked worriedly. Lee shook his head.

"No. We went off in different directions, remember? Maybe he's still out searching and lost track of time."

"That's not like him, though. He's usually very punctual."

"I−" What looked like a small flash on the kunai caught Lee's eye. It looked like something on it was burning, even though nothing could have sparked it. As he watched for another second, he suddenly saw the outline of a tiny piece of paper outlined against the bandages by the light. It was an exploding tag.

"Lee?" Tenten asked. "What is it?"

He didn't answer, and instead leaped towards her. He grabbed her around the waist and carried her through the air. The tag exploded behind him as he did so, and its force pushed him through the air roughly.

The two crashed into the ground and tumbled before getting back up. Wordlessly, they looked at each other and ran back to the clearing where they had just been standing. The explosion had created an enormous crater, and several of the trees had caught on fire. If they had been standing there when it had gone off…

"Who could have done this?" asked Tenten.

"I am not sure," said Lee, looking at the crater and narrowing his eyes. "But whoever they are, they probably wanted to kill us."

"You think?" Tenten muttered under her breath. _Whoever these guys are, they took Neji and set a trap for us. They must have been watching us the entire time, and set the trap as soon as we left in different directions…_

"We have to find Neji, wherever he is," Lee proclaimed.

"Right," said Tenten, nodding her head. They took off together and began their search.

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"There she is," said Takeshi, crouching by some bushes with Hibiki at his side. Before them lay Hinata Hyuga, fast asleep. The moon was the only source of visible light, and it shined down on her and her teammates. She was the nearest to them, with the other two farther away.

In the middle lay a blond boy with what appeared to be whisker marks on his face, and a girl with pink hair was sleeping at the far end.

"This is too easy!" said Hibiki happily, and confidently emerged from the bushes. Takeshi reluctantly followed. He hadn't seen them set any traps while he had watched them, but he had left almost as soon as they had set themselves down for the night. If they had set anything up, they would have done it while he was gone.

Hibiki strutted up to Hinata's sleeping form, not giving his surroundings a thorough look. Which was why he missed the thin metal wire strung up surrounding the clearing. He walked right into it, and it snapped with a sharp _twang_.

A log with a sharpened end swung down on him, and he jumped out of the way with an angry yell. As if that wasn't enough noise already, the log swung on to hit another tree with a large crash.

The Genin team was awakening; the pink kunoichi was the first one on her feet, and Hinata quickly followed. The blond groggily climbed to his feet, a confused look on his face.

"Idiot!" Takeshi yelled furiously. "We have one simple job to do, and you screw it up in five seconds!"

"You were the one who should have watched if they set any traps!" Hibiki retorted angrily. A kunai suddenly flew at him; if he hadn't rolled out of its path it would have impaled his chest. It had been the pink girl, and she was already reaching for more weapons.

Takeshi made for Hinata as fast as he could, dodging another thrown kunai as he ran. The Hyuga was quickly within arm's length, but she ducked under him before he could grab her. Her arm shot out in a jab, striking him in the abdomen. He doubled over in pain as an influx of chakra briefly overloaded his senses. Another blow came to the back of his neck, and he crumpled.

"A little help would be nice," he choked out to Hibiki as he struggled to stand. The pink kunoichi was suddenly upon him, and she punched him in the chest. The force behind the blow was incredible, and sent him flying; he felt several of his ribs crack. He slid to a halt on the ground. Suddenly, Hibiki was sent flying as well by an attack and landed next to him. His nose was bloody and he had a look of fury on his face.

"Those damn Genin," he said angrily. The team of three was now fully alert, holding kunais and ready to continue fighting. The blond seemed to have taken the center, with the two kunoichis guarding his flanks.

"We figured you'd come," said the boy angrily. "So we decided to set a little trap for you before we fell asleep."

"They know about Orochimaru's plans?" asked Takeshi, shocked. "How?"

"No, you moron!" spat Hibiki. "They think we're just another Genin team after their scrolls!"

The three Genin overheard their exchange, and looked at each other, puzzled.

"You're… imposters?" asked the pink girl. "Who the hell is Orochimaru? What do you want?"

Hibiki slapped his forehead in disgust. "You see?" he said to Takeshi. "You just ruined everything!"

"Me?! You're the one who said it!"

"Both of you, shut your mouths!" roared a commanding voice that sounded far too familiar. They turned to see Orochimaru standing on a branch of the tree directly behind them, glaring down at them fiercely. Everyone, including the Genin team, was looking up at him in shock.

"Lord Orochimaru!" gasped Takeshi. "I, we were just−"

"Silence!" the Otokage commanded. "I tell you to do one simple thing: get the Hyuga! You're supposed to be elite, yet you can't see a simple trap when it lies in plain sight!"

The three Genin looked up at him in shock in this revelation. What did he want with Hinata? With a snarl, Orochimaru disappeared from the tree in a puff of smoke and reappeared seconds later in front of Hinata. Before any of the Genin could move to stop him, he grabbed her and leaped off to land in a different tree.

"Take care of them!" he ordered the two Fumas. He kept one hand clamped over Hinata's mouth as she screamed and kicked, then leaped away.

"_Hinata!_" yelled the blond. He took off, leaping after them, but Hibiki jumped into the air and cut him off, knocking him back down. The pink girl was distracted by looking at them, and Takeshi jumped at her. She turned around in time to see him, but not in time to move. He struck her in the face with a powerful punch, and she was thrown backwards with a cry.

"Takeshi!" called Hibiki, standing over the blond. "Did he want us to kill them or just knock them out?"

"I don't know, Hibiki," he answered. "We might as well just kill them, it makes it simpler."

Hibiki grinned and pulled out a kunai, then looked back down at the blond, who was now beginning to stand. He reared his hand back top stab him, but in that instant the Genin suddenly charged into him, throwing him to the ground. The kunai fell from his hand. Shrugging, Takeshi pulled out his own blade and advanced on the fallen kunoichi.

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Something had snapped within Naruto. Seeing Hinata taken away had set something off within him, and hearing these two imposters talk about killing him and Sakura only made it worse. If they were going to kill anyone, it would be over his dead body.

He knocked over the one named Hibiki just before he could stab him, and immediately set his sights on Takeshi. The man was strange-looking, much taller than his comrade and wearing a weird mask. He walked over to where Sakura was beginning to stand up with a blade in his hands. There was no question as to what he intended to do with it.

Leaving Hibiki on the ground, he bolted towards him, pulling out a kunai as he did so. The moment he got close enough, however, Takeshi side-stepped the attack, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck and throwing him down. Naruto fell over and dropped his kunai, and Takeshi grabbed him by the collar of his jacket.

He threw him into a tree, then turned his attention back to Sakura. "Hibiki, do something right for once and finish off that little bastard. We're done here."

"Just shut up," Hibiki muttered. He moved to stand over Naruto, an annoyed look on his face. "All right, you heard the man. It's time for you to die." He kicked Naruto in the stomach, causing him to groan in pain. It hurt twice as bad since it was in the same place as his previous injury. The kicks kept on coming; it seemed like he intended to beat him to death. He rolled into a ball, desperate to somehow protect himself, but he found himself under attack at any exposed body part: head, neck, back, groin.

He got onto his knees and tried to stand up, but Hibiki kicked him in the chin, sending him onto his back. The blow reverberated throughout his entire jaw, and he felt slightly dizzy. He tasted blood in his mouth.

Without warning, Hibiki was suddenly seized from behind by Sakura, who grabbed him by the arm and slammed him into the ground. The maneuver wouldn't have been effective if it hadn't been performed by someone with sufficient strength; Sakura had plenty of that, and some to spare. Hibiki crashed to the ground with a scream, and grabbed the shoulder of the arm Sakura had swung him by. Judging by the way he continued to shriek, she had dislocated his arm.

With a groan, Naruto turned over and tried to stand, but was unable to get up past his knees. Leaving Hibiki cursing furiously, Sakura was at Naruto's side in a moment, helping him to his feet. "Come on, get up, we still have to help Hinata…"

Naruto was able to stand with her help, though he had to lean on her for a moment as he regained his composure. He could see Takeshi sprawled on the floor a short distance away, Sakura evidently having taken care of him. Taking a deep breath, he stopped leaning on her and stood up independently, with Sakura reluctantly letting go of him. "All right, I think I'm better," he said, wiping blodd off his face. "Looks like these guys are done, we should just go after Hinata." The two turned to leave the clearing, heading in the direction Hinata had been taken. Holding his stomach and grimacing, Naruto did his best to keep up a normal pace.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Sakura asked, looking at him. "I could probably do…something…"

"Forget about it," Naruto muttered. "We wasted enough time on those two losers already."

No sooner had he said that than Takeshi suddenly lunged at the pair of them from behind with a kunai, letting out a furious yell and moving too quickly for either of them to react. His kunai impaled Naruto in the shoulder; making his first attack flow straight into his second, he withdrew the kunai and in the same motion slashed it in Sakura's direction. He'd been aiming for her throat, but his speed made the attack inaccurate. The edge had slashed the lower right part of her neck, moving downwards diagonally and cutting the skin above her collarbone. Blood splattered everywhere and Sakura reached for her wound with a scream. Takeshi followed through by grabbing her by the hair, slamming her face into his knee. Sakura crumpled to the ground, dazed. Naruto lunged towards him, but Takeshi saw the attack coming and kicked him in the stomach, sending him back to ground as well.

Hibiki hobbled over to stand next to Takeshi, tenderly holding his shoulder. "Goddammit, it's about time."

"The girl was a lot more trouble than I figured she would be," Takeshi said. "Looking at her, you wouldn't guess she was that strong… Looks really can be deceiving. She'd probably have made a pretty good ninja."

"Little bitch," Hibiki grunted. "I'll have to find someone to fix this arm. Damn it hurts." Seeing that Sakura was attempting to get back up, he placed his foot on the back of her neck and forced her back down. Naruto wasn't sitting idly either; his struggle to get up prompted Takeshi to kick him in the face.

Hibiki stared at Sakura as she squirmed under his heel, her face smashed into the dirt. "You know, she doesn't look half bad. Maybe we could have some fun with her first."

Takeshi's expression was unreadable behind his Halloween mask. "You're disgusting," he finally said. "If Orochimaru finds out he might get…indignant. You never know. Just kill her and get it over with."

"I guess you're right," sighed Hibiki disappointedly. "Oh well. You know, I really hope that he'd be against his agents doing something like that. If I found out he doesn't give a shit, I'll be pissed off at such a wasted opportunity." With a grunt, he pulled out a kunai with his good arm.

Takeshi shook his head and turned back towards Naruto. A gasp betrayed his shock when he saw that the boy was standing upright, no longer on the ground.

Naruto's fists were clenched, and his nails were digging into the palms of his hands. A familiar, dark rage was flowing through him.

"Wha−" Takeshi looked at him and frowned. "What the hell just happened to this freak's eyes?" Whatever it meant, it couldn't be anything good. He quickly moved to attack, determined to finish off the blond and end this battle for good. Naruto didn't know what he was talking about, but he had no time to ponder it as the kunai swung at his head.

He quickly grabbed his forearm, halting his attack. As he looked, he saw that his nails had mysteriously transformed into claws. He didn't know what was going on, but the rage within him was still there, and only getting even stronger.

"You'll touch them," Naruto snarled, "over my dead body!" He grabbed Takeshi's other arm, holding him in place, then kicked him in the stomach. The ninja doubled over, and Naruto kneed him in the face. He released his arms, and Takeshi stumbled backwards. Naruto delivered a punch to his face, sending him hurtling though the air. His strength was inhuman; he had previously been unable to even hurt the giant, and now he was tossing him through the air like it was nothing. Takeshi let out a yell as he flew, then crashed to the ground. He crumpled, and tried to stand, but by then Naruto had turned his attention elsewhere.

Hibiki still stood over Sakura, and held the kunai over her as she thrashed and struggled underneath him. Faster than he imagined he could move, Naruto dashed towards him.

"_Let her go!_" he roared. Hibiki turned around and quickly tried to move out of the way, but it was useless. Naruto grabbed him by his good arm and spun on his feet before throwing him towards where Takeshi lay.

"Naruto!" said a shocked Sakura.

A furious Takeshi stood up and pulled out another kunai. He charged Naruto with a cry, raising the blade in the air as he ran.

Naruto threw himself at the enemy ninja, and shouldered him in the stomach. Takeshi stumbled but managed to maintain his balance, then tried charging Naruto again. Naruto punched him in the stomach, and again in the chest. The power behind each blow was incredible, and Takeshi fell. Naruto grabbed him by the shirt before he hit the ground, and he threw him over his shoulder to land somewhere behind him.

With Takeshi out of the way, he turned his attention to the wounded Hibiki. Naruto jumped on top of him, punching again and again, paying him back for the earlier beating he had taken. Hibiki's cries of pain only served to excite the evil power within him, and he ruthlessly continued his brutal assault.

"You want to have fun with Sakura?!" he yelled. "Then I get to have fun with you!" Hibiki's hand was raised, as if trying to defend himself, but he was already as good as dead. Naruto repeatedly brought his fist crashing down in one shattering blow after another until the ninja's face was nothing but a bloody mess; his nose was completely crushed and teeth flew out of his mouth. Naruto kept hitting him even long after he had stopped moving, and only got up when he heard Sakura call from behind him.

"Naruto!" she screamed. As he turned to look, he saw that Takeshi had grabbed her from behind, and was holding a kunai at her throat.

"Don't move," he warned. "Or she dies." His face was hidden by the mask, but his voice was quivering slightly, as if he was afraid. Watching your friend get savagely beaten to death by a half-human creature could do that to you.

"I'll kill you!" Naruto screamed. He charged at Takeshi, and only then did the enemy ninja realize that holding Sakura hostage would do no good; if he really killed her, then Naruto would have no reason to let him go. He pushed the girl forward, then impaled her in the back with his kunai. She screamed in pain, and he threw her at the approaching Naruto.

Naruto stopped his charge and caught her. He saw that the kunai had penetrated deeply, and blood was all over her. She looked up at him, terrified.

"I… he…" She seemed to be losing a lot of blood, and couldn't quite speak clearly. She passed out in his arms, and he pulled the kunai out of her back.

"Die!" yelled Takeshi, and threw a kunai at him. Naruto couldn't dodge it, not with Sakura in his arms. It hit him underneath the shoulder, but missed anything vital.

Glaring at Takeshi darkly, he pulled out the blade and let it fall to the ground. The stab wound began to heal, steam rising from it as it closed.

"What the hell are you?!" yelled Takeshi. His voice was now clearly filled with fear, and he took several steps backwards.

Naruto set Sakura down on the ground and stood up. Takeshi looked like he was trembling, and pulled out a kunai.

"Stay back!" he commanded. "I'll, I'll…"

"_You'll be dead!_" Naruto bolted towards him. Takeshi desperately tried to dodge him again, but Naruto was too fast. Instead of trying to toss him around, Naruto went straight for the kill this time. He extended his hand so that it would grab Takeshi by the throat as he shot past him, digging into the flesh with his claws. As he flew past, he felt something warm and wet drench his fingers. He stopped in his tracks and skidded to a halt, then turned around to look at Takeshi.

Takeshi's throat was torn open, and blood cascaded from his neck like a gruesome waterfall. He let out a gurgling sound and fell to his knees, as if in prayer, then slumped to the ground. He didn't move. Determined, Naruto leaped off in the direction that Orochimaru had left. He had to find Hinata.

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Orochimaru waited for Takeshi and Hibiki to catch up with him, so they could find Kabuto and then head back to Sound. It seemed to be taking them an awfully long time just to deal with a couple of Genin, but maybe they were just having fun with them before they killed them. That was the way some members of the secret police treated captured bloodline carriers back in Sound.

Hinata was slung across a nearby branch, unconscious. She now had the curse seal, according to plan. Whether she lived or not was anyone's guess, though. If she were to die, he didn't care; just as long as one of the others lived.

Both Neji and Sasuke were powerful and showed a lot of potential. Hinata, on the other hand, had barely put up any sort of fight. She had struggled, but hadn't shown any sort of impressive abilities. If it wasn't for her Byakugan, then she would be completely useless as a ninja. That was true of almost all bloodline carriers. Neither Neji nor Sasuke would have stood any sort of chance against him if they were just regular ninjas. They mistaked their genetics as genuine skill, and flaunted it to show their superiority.

He bared his teeth in anger, remembering how badly they had ruined Rice Fields before he could fix things. They were all greedy and stuck up; the world would never be set right until they were all gone. But until that day, he had plenty of test subjects toiling away in camps at his disposal.

A crash of movement through the trees heading towards him suddenly caught his attention. "Well, it's about time you−" He stopped. The two Fumas weren't heading towards him; it was Naruto.

He looked faintly like an animal as he drew nearer. His whisker marks were exaggerated, his nails had turned into claws, and he had grown fangs.

_Is that… the power of the nine-tailed fox?_

Naruto landed, and saw Hinata. He turned to look at Orochimaru furiously. "_What did you do to her?!_" he yelled.

"Nothing that concerns you," Orochimaru answered coolly. "Where are those two imbeciles?"

"They're dead!" Naruto said. Orochimaru blinked in surprise.

"Interesting…" he murmured.

"And you're next!" Naruto leaped at him, ready to tear into him with his sharp claws. Perhaps killing two morons had boosted his confidence enough to think he had what it took to fight a Sannin.

He shot out his enormous tongue and wrapped it around Naruto, capturing him. Naruto clawed at the appendage, but it was futile. Orochimaru retracted his tongue so that he was face to face with the boy. He inspected him carefully as he snarled and snapped. His eyes were red, the pupils slitted.

_Truly amazing… I don't know the specifics of the seal that his father used, but it allows both Naruto's chakra and the fox's chakra to harmlessly merge together. It's as if they are on the verge of a symbiotic relationship…_

He raised Naruto's jacket to look at the seal around his belly.

_Hmm… Adding an odd-numbered seal ought to really disrupt things for him. He'll be harmless._

He gathered the chakra to his fingers in preparation for the seal, and rammed his hand into Naruto's stomach. The boy screamed in pain as the seal was set. His eyes returned to their normal blue color, and everything else returned to normal as well. The powers of the nine-tailed fox had receded. Naruto fainted, and Orochimaru tossed him so that he was slung on the same branch as Hinata.

He stood up, satisfied. _I was going to make sure that Kabuto was going according to plan, but I suppose it doesn't matter. I can trust him. I need to get back to Sound, those negotiations must succeed. Though I don't think Arashi will be very happy to learn that two of his agents are dead…_

Orochimaru chuckled, then took off, heading north and out of the Forest of Death.

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"Is that them?" asked Zaku looking at the three Genin. One of them had sunglasses and a coat. The other two were unconscious.

"Yes, that's them," Dosu confirmed. "As Orochimaru ordered, we'll attack at dawn."

"If those other two get in the way, we can take 'em out, right?"

"Of course."

Zaku sniggered, and sat down to wait. Dawn would arrive soon enough.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"I want everybody to hear loud and clear that I'm going to be the president of everybody."

- George W. Bush


	17. Hell March

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 17: Hell March_

Sasuke looked at the small boy in front of him. He realized with horror that it was himself when he was six.

"Who, wh-what…?"

"Father, mother…" said the six-year-old Sasuke. "They didn't have to die… Without power, there's nothing you can do. I wasn't powerful enough. The clan was destroyed, everyone was killed…" Sobbing, he raised one of his hands to his face. "They died… because you let them die!" he suddenly said, acknowledging the older Sasuke's presence for the first time. He pulled on his face, tugging on the skin. His face was torn off like a rubber mask, revealing Orochimaru's eye underneath, which glared at him. "You just stood there and watched!" he accused. "You're nothing but a weakling!"

Sasuke felt a terrible sense of horror rise inside of him. Terrified, he took a step backwards and away from his younger self, then another. The young Sasuke grinned at him maliciously; Sasuke felt the edges of his vision going dark.

The darkness closed in faster and faster, and he somehow knew what it meant: he was dying. Feeling hopeless, he fell to his knees as the six-year-old doppelganger laughed. The darkness had almost completely swallowed him by then. Out of nowhere, what looked like a gold ray shined down on him intensely. The light was magnificent, beautiful; he had never experienced anything like it before. The darkness melted away before it, and the younger Sasuke disappeared. Enveloped in light, Sasuke's fear of death went away.

Just as he knew that the darkness meant that his death was imminent, he realized that the golden light meant just the opposite. He was saved. The light focused even more, getting brighter until it blinded him, and his dream ended.

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Neji looked at his surroundings in shock. Where the hell was he? The bars of a cage completely surrounded him, with no gap for him to escape. He looked down and saw that he was standing on a thin wooden bar, then looked back up. He suddenly did a double take, looking at his feet again. He no longer had feet. Instead, a bird's talons were gripping onto the bar keeping him from falling to the bottom of he cage. Horrified, he extended his arms, and was met with the sight of two large, feathery wings unfurling.

He was a bird. Looking around again, he realized that he had an abnormally wide range of vision, and he saw a beak in front of him whenever he focused both of his eyes on it. He tried yelling, but all that came out was a squawk. By flapping his wings, he suddenly levitated into the air, and flew around in crazy circles. He had to get out, he had to escape…

The cage door suddenly creaked open. Neji stopped flying and squawking and landed on the bottom of the cage, turning his head to the side so he could look at the opened cage curiously. Who had opened it? He hadn't seen anybody. Cautiously, he took one step, towards the open gate, then another. Gaining confidence, he quickly waddled to it as fast as he could. He jumped on to the edge of the opening, gripping in with his talons. He was on the brink of freedom.

A light breeze tickled his breast and slightly ruffled his feathers. It was a pleasant feeling. So this was what freedom felt like…

He leaped off of the edge and spread his wings, taking flight. He was free! It was the most wonderful feeling he had ever experienced. Just the simple fact that he was no longer confined to a dark cage felt him with a deep happiness. Just as he was beginning to fully realize how wonderful freedom from the cage was, he suddenly saw something in his flight path. He flew closer to it, and suddenly realized in terror that it was an enormous snake.

It looked up at him hungrily, and its tongue flitted out. Neji desperately tried to turn around in midair, but he was too slow. The snake lunged at him, capturing him with its powerful jaws. He felt his ribs splinter as the fangs pierced his flesh, and he fell to the ground.

He let out a weak chirp, but nothing more. The snake hissed in what seemed to be laughter. As he lay dying, a golden ray focused on him. Upon seeing it, the snake hissed in rage and retreated from it as fast as it could slither. The light focused on Neji and intensified; he felt himself healing underneath it.

_What… What is this light? I don't understand…_

The light grew bright enough to completely obscure his vision, ending his dream.

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Naruto looked at Hinata as she stood in front of him.

"Hinata!" he cried happily. He ran to her as fast as his legs could carry him, and wrapped his arms around her in a hug, crushing her to him. "I was so worried," he said, tears stinging his eyes. "I thought that something terrible would have happened to you by now…"

"I'm okay," she assured him, returning his hug. "Everything's okay now." She suddenly pressed her lips against his in a kiss. Naruto was surprised at first, but he quickly returned it. Her lips were soft and warm, and he liked the way they felt when he kissed them back. It felt like bombs were going off in his head. He had never kissed a girl before, but it somehow felt right…

After a long moment they separated. She looked into his eyes and smiled.

"Come on," she told him. She grabbed his hand with her own and tugged on it, signaling for him to follow her. "Let's go."

"Anywhere," he said dizzily. "I'll go anywhere if I can be with you."

She smiled at him lovingly. "Good," she said. "I was hoping you'd say that." She tugged on his arm again and they took off.

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_Where am I?_ Hinata wondered. She felt like she was inside of a building, and it was dark and cold. She didn't like this place; it scared her. She looked and saw what appeared to be balcony at the edge of the room. She could hear what sounded like cheering from outside. Curiously, she walked towards the balcony, wanting to find out what was going on.

She made it to the balcony, and peered over the edge. The world around her looked like it was on fire. High walls of flames lined the distance, limiting her vision to what lay underneath her. To her shock, she saw what looked like some sort of parade going down a city street. Endless legions of dark soldiers marched underneath her, and crowds of people cheered wildly as they passed. The soldiers themselves looked like demons; they had dark uniforms and shiny helmets, with swords hanging from their hips. They had no visible faces, instead looking like shadows given shape and form. For eyes, they had two bright spots on their upper faces, burning like embers. The soldiers seemed to create destruction as they marched. The pavement underneath their feet cracked and split, and flames rose up from them. Buildings and statues crumbled as they went forward, and trees and plants withered and blackened before them.

_Is this… Hell?_

The crowds of people looked normal, but cheered for these demonic soldiers as if they were heroes. They all had their arms raised in the air at an odd angle in some sort of salute as they yelled and screamed with cheer.

"Magnificent…" said a voice to her right. She quickly turned, and was met with the vision of an enormous man-snake creature standing on the balcony. He had two legs and arms like a man, but a long tail extended from his lower back and touched the ground. In place of a human face, he had a snake's head, with a long snout and slanted eyes. His hands and feet had long, sharp claws, making him look like a velociraptor. He would have looked exactly like one if it wasn't for the fact that he stood up straight.

At his side stood a man dressed in white garments, his face concealed. "Indeed, they are impressive," he said. They took no notice of her and continued to stare down at the demons marching below.

_Th-the Devil?_ Hinata thought as she looked at him, horrified. She took a step backwards, then ran for her life, trying to get away from him as fast as she could. No matter what happened, she didn't want that thing to touch her, to get a hold off her…

The world around her went fuzzy and distorted as she ran, and she suddenly found herself somewhere far away from the building and the demons. She was outside. The world still looked like it was on fire; dark clouds were in the sky, blocking out the sun. Flames were still visible in the distance in every direction she looked, like some sort of border or wall. The ground was covered with soot, and white ash rained down from the sky like snow.

She saw what looked like a guard tower in front of her. As she looked up at it, she saw another demon soldier manning it. He had a crossbow slung across his back, and he peered down at her curiously from his post. His flaming eyes burned intensely as he looked at her, frightening her. She was still in Hell.

She walked along, noticing that the guard tower was connected to a chain link fence with barbed wire at the top. It seemed that this particular tower was at a corner, connecting two sides. What was being guarded here?

As she walked further down the fence, she saw it. Crowds of skeletons were packed inside of the prison camp, and many of them wandered around aimlessly as the demon soldiers watched them from their towers. There were several buildings inside of the camp. Several of them had tall chimneys, and black smoke rose from them. She could occasionally hear screams of agony coming from inside them, the cries of suffering souls.

Everything was too quiet; she found that it was even worse than the cheering of people from before. She wished that someone would start yelling, and distract her from the awful sight in front of her. But no one made a sound.

Skeletons began to gather at the fence, staring at her. Their skulls were grinning masks of terror, and their fingers latched onto the fence as she walked past. They continued staring at her intently, as if they were expecting her to do something. She saw that some of the skeletons were shorter than she was, looking up at her as their bony hands latched onto ones of grown skeletons.

_Children too?_ she thought suddenly, sickened. The skeletons would not look away from her, and she felt nauseated just by standing there. She had to get away. She had to get out of Hell…

She turned around and desperately ran in the opposite direction from the camp, leaving the skeletons behind as they all stared at her. She blinked, and found herself in the city again. She had been teleported again. This time, she was right in the middle of the street. The crowds lining the street cheered as loud as ever, and she saw with horror that the legions of demons were marching straight towards her. She tried to pull up her feet and run, but she couldn't move them; it was as if they were planted to the ground.

Closer and closer the demons marched, fiery eyes burning and swords gleaming. They were not slowing down even as they drew nearer, and the pavement continued to crack and split before them. It grew even worse; the ground they marched on gradually melted and turned into molten lava, but the demons had no trouble walking over it as if it were solid ground. The people cheered louder than ever, still holding up their hands in salute.

The flames around her rose higher and hotter, and she yanked at her legs furiously, knowing that she would die if they reached her. It was futile; her feet were glued to the ground.

The demons were nearly upon her. She tried to scream, opening her mouth wide in terror, but nothing came out except a tiny squeak. The soldiers marched ever closer, and she could feel the incredible fiery heat they gave off as they advanced. She screwed her eyes shut, preparing herself…

Nothing happened. She no longer heard the sound of boots stepping on the pavement, and the wild crowd had stopped cheering. She hesitantly opened her eyes, and looked back up at the demons.

The vast legions all stood before her, and were standing at attention. As one, they all pulled out their swords and raised them in the air at a 135 degree angle, saluting her. They all stared straight ahead, and did not move from their postures. She didn't understand any of this, she wished that they would all just go away…

A hand suddenly touched her on the shoulder, and tugged on her gently. The demons and the vision of Hell evaporated, and she found herself in a completely new place. It was dark and there seemed to be a mist hanging in the air. It was slightly creepy, but she knew at once that she was no longer in Hell. In front of her, there were endless rows of graves, stone crosses that reached the edges of her vision and appeared to go on forever.

"There must be thousands…" she whispered to herself as she looked at them.

"Millions, actually," corrected a voice behind her. Hinata swiftly turned around to look at the person who said it.

A man stood there. He had long, flowing blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes. He was wearing what appeared to be a shiny white suit of armor, and a broadsword was hanging from a sheath around his waist. He seemed to be surrounded by a halo of light.

"Naruto?" asked Hinata. He chuckled and shook his head. She suddenly realized that the man had no whisker marks, and so couldn't have been her teammate.

"No, I'm not Naruto," he said, laughter in his voice.

"Are you a soldier?" she asked, looking at his armor and sword.

"I've fought in a war before, so I guess you could call me a veteran."

She looked at him, puzzled. She was certain that he had been the one to pull her out of Hell, but she was still slightly afraid of him. At the same time, a small voice told her that he was okay, he could be trusted.

"Are you a ninja?"

"You mean do I serve under a Kage?" He shook his head. "I'm not a ninja. I answer to a higher authority."

"I… okay…" She looked at him, confused. He seemed to be a very kind and gentle person, but she couldn't help but have a lingering sense of caution. "Who are all of these people?" she asked, looking back at the graves. "How did so many die?"

"A war," said the veteran simply. "Some died fighting, others were innocent victims."

"Does this have anything to do with my dreams?"

"Hinata, it has _everything_ to do with your dreams."

She took the fact that he knew her name in stride. Everything else going on was even weirder.

"But, I don't understand… A fox and a snake, two ninjas fighting, those skeletons… Has this war already happened?"

"Not yet," he said. "The battle is yet to be won."

Hinata was silent for a moment, thinking about what he said. She suddenly looked back up at him. "Is this a dream?"

"Yes."

"So none of this is real?"

"I never said that."

Hinata couldn't figure this guy out. She suddenly remembered what had happened while she was awake and reached for her neck. Despite bearing the cursed seal, it didn't hurt at all. "That Orochimaru man… he bit me. I remember now."

The veteran nodded his head. "He did. You're currently hanging between life and death at the moment, and leaning a bit towards the second one."

"I'm… going to die?" she asked, frightened. _I'll never see Naruto again?_ she thought to herself.

"Would you stop putting words in my mouth?" asked the veteran, sounding annoyed. "I never said that, either."

"You told me that I was leaning towards death."

"I did, and you are. But that doesn't mean that there's nothing that can be done about it." He walked up to her and raised his hand up.

"What are you doing?" she asked, suspicion mounting within her.

"I'm going to make sure that you live," he answered. "You're not done here; it's not your time to go just yet."

"To… go? How are you going to heal me if this is just a dream? I thought that I could only be helped in the physical world…" She stopped talking, giving up trying to figure things out.

"Consider this divine intervention," the veteran said, grinning. His hand glowed with a golden light, and he gently placed it on her forehead. She felt a sensation of warmth spread within her, and it disappeared as quickly as it had come.

She looked up at him, and he smiled down at her. "You see?" he said. "That wasn't so bad, now was it?" Hinata found herself shaking her head.

"Couldn't you have just completely healed me, not just made sure I lived?"

"No," he said. "That's in my power, but I'm working under orders, you see. You'll have to deal with this curse by yourself. It's like a test. You need to resist the temptation it presents."

"Okay..." She looked up at him, but his gaze was now fixed on the graves behind her.

The veteran looked on at them, his grin disappearing and a sad look replacing it. "War is a messy business…"

"What war did you fight in?" Hinata asked, curious. He looked down at her.

"I don't think it's one you'd be familiar with," he told her. "It happened a very long time ago… I guess you could call it a civil war, or perhaps a failed coup. One of the Leader's top… subordinates decided that he was too good to be treated as second rate. He raised an army of followers, and tried to seize power for himself and replace our Leader. I was placed in charge of making sure that he failed." He grew silent and narrowed his eyes, presumably from the bitter memories.

"And… who won?" asked Hinata, captivated.

"We did. Those who remained loyal to the Leader triumphed, and the traitor was cast out and exiled. He went on to form his own kingdom in a place far away from ours, where all of his followers went and stayed. But the battle to defeat him was difficult. I lost many good friends that day…" He sighed sadly.

"I'm sorry," said Hinata, unsure of how to comfort him. He managed to give her a small grin, and ruffled his hand through her hair.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. He turned around and began walking away, leaving her.

"What about my war?" she called after him. "What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Follow your heart. You'll know what to do when the time comes." He stopped walking and paused, as if in thought. He turned his head to look back at her. "And regardless of what you might have been told, the war between light and dark is not eternal. Far from it. When the end comes, there will be clear winner. Just make sure that you're on the winning side." He winked at her, and continued walking. The mist was beginning to swallow him up, obscuring him from vision.

Hinata watched him leave, and continued to stare at where he had been standing for several moments afterwards. The mist became thicker, and began to swirl around her. As it blinded her, she realized that her dream was over.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"If you can't annoy somebody, there is little point in writing."

- Kingsley Amis


	18. Dark Alliance

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 18: Dark Alliance_

Orochimaru made it back to the border of Sound with no difficulty. It was some distance to travel all the way from Konoha, but he arrived back in record time. Perhaps not having two Fuma Clan members traveling with him and slowing him down played a part.

The wind whipped across his face as he soared through the air, causing a shadow of a grin to creep up his face. These days, he hardly had time to flex his might as a ninja; indeed he hardly had the opportunity to take off his Kage uniform. Always in the public eye, he typically rode in heavily guarded carriages, flanked by dozens of soldiers to keep the adoring crowds at a respectful distance and make any would-be assassins think twice. No one was to know that he was anything more than a halfway-competent ninja; nothing above what was required to lead a shinobi village in what was considered a backwards nation. If he were to ever show the full extent of his powers in public, the foreign ambassadors and dignitaries that regularly traveled through the country would ask questions. If he were to so much as show his face, the entire plan, everything he had struggled for all these years, would be blown. Sound, being such a small country with no significant wealth to attract foreigners, had little difficulty restricting its communication with the outside world. Even still, Orochimaru's seizure power would likely have been enough to get someone's attention.

And so he hid behind masks and guards and stone walls, posing as a normal ninja, becoming the leader without a recognizable identity. It was quite boring—tortuous, even—and a former ninja with a weaker mental constitution would likely have been driven insane.

This mission to Fire Country had been an opportunity Orochimaru hadn't had for years. He hadn't seen anything even resembling action ever since he'd taken control of Rice Country. But the next step of his plan was drawing nearer—so very near!—and he'd be able to drop his disguise at last. But until then he would not be able to reveal his identity, and so he stuck to the sparsely-populated countryside on his journey to the Imperial City. It truly was a beautiful setting, with only the occasional pockmark left on the earth signaling the result of an explosion, a scar from the war that had brought the country to ruin.

Crude landmines remained even still, and accidents happened every year because of them. Orochimaru snarled. The Land of Fire was filled with nothing but traitors and liars, going back on their word and allowing Rice Country to fall. Orochimaru was many things, but honorable was not one of them. He had little sympathy for the victims of war and nations who could not defend themselves. The world was nothing but a fight for survival. However, the manner in which Fire Country so callously abandoned their allies out of sheer laziness and cowardice filled him with disgust. Soon enough, his enemies would pay for everything they had done; every crime they had committed would be given due punishment. With this in mind, he focused and doubled his speed.

He quickly made it to the capital, where the Kages would be waiting for him. They would have arrived the day before, with Orochimaru still in Konoha. They'd have some time to observe the city for themselves and witness what a powerful military machine the nation had become, enough to be considered a worthy ally.

Orochimaru had been negotiating with the Kages of Mist, Cloud, and Rock by sending encrypted messages for several months. With Wind Country long since secured as an ally, he was able to focus on communicating with the other major nations. It was a risky process, but Orochimaru was confident that he had all of the Kages convinced enough to join his alliance. While the Kages did not have the power to commit their entire countries to supporting the Empire of Sound, convincing them that standing by him would be a good idea was an excellent first step. A Kage's opinion and advice would be held in very high regard by the daimyo.

Having heard a report that several of the Kages had arrived was enough confirmation that they were at least strongly interested in his proposal. All he had to do now was make sure that they received a positive image of him and his nation, and that they would be assured that their alliance would be an unbeatable one. This was perhaps the most delicate stage, but it was the final one.

The city was magnificent as usual, with the national flag flying over every rooftop in a patriotic display. Stopping at the outskirts of the city, Orochimaru performed a transformation before making his way into the streets, disguising himself as an ordinary person. For all the citizens knew, their daimyo was sitting at his palace, working on something or other. While dressing up in his formal Otokage robes and masking his face was an option, being seen wandering around the city would likely lead to some sort of trouble.

Once he made it to the Imperial Palace, he went up the large stone steps (which were also lined with national banners) and to the front doors, where two members of the Fuma Clan stood guard. Unlike Takeshi and Hibiki, these two were in full uniform. They had clean, pressed brown tunics with gleaming steel helmets and swords at their hips. On the sleeves of their uniforms was the national symbol of the Empire of Sound, the same insignia that adorned the national flag. They regarded Orochimaru warily as he walked up the steps towards them, and only moved as soon as he was within several yards of them.

"Can we help you with something?" asked one of the guards as Orochimaru drew near.

"I have business inside the palace," Orochimaru answered, pulling out a note and handing it over. The guard looked at it carefully. Orochimaru felt like laughing at the scenario; he had written and signed the note himself, with the intention of using it to allow himself entry into his own palace.

"Everything seems to be in order," answered the guard, handing the note back. "Hang on one moment, we'll get you inside."

The two guards quickly opened up the enormous wooden double doors, and Orochimaru walked inside without pausing. The doors loudly slammed shut behind him.

Inside, the ornately decorated palace looked even better. This was effectively the High Command of the Empire, where all decisions took place and treaties were made. The latter was exactly what he was doing now. He walked through the first several floors, which were packed with military officers and workers, none of whom took any notice of him as he walked past. He eventually made it to the room he customarily used for holding meetings and discussing strategy with his generals. Today, however, it held a different purpose.

Waiting outside was the door was the shinobi Tayuya. Leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, a scowl lined her face, and she gave Orochimaru an annoyed glance as he approached. She failed to recognize him, since he had yet to get rid of his transformation.

"Nobody's allowed in, pal," Tayuya snapped. "A bunch of high and mighty Kages are meeting in here, so you better—."

With a wave of his hand Orochimaru restored his true appearance, and Tayuya's eyes widened. "Do I qualify as a high and mighty Kage?" Orochimaru asked, grinning.

"L-Lord Orochimaru, I apologize, I didn't recognize—"

"No harm done, my dear," the Otokage replied. "Hand me my robes, would you please? I couldn't very well go into the meeting dressed like this."

"Yes, sir, of course." Tayuya quickly gave him the robes she had been keeping for him, which he slipped on.

"Ah, that's much better," he said, adjusting the mask that concealed his face. "Thank you. Have the Kages been forced to wait for me very long?"

"No, sir," answered Tayuya. "They haven't had to wait at all, really. Arashi was completely prepared to receive them. He made sure they were taken care of when they arrived yesterday, and he went straight to business as soon as they arrived here earlier."

"'Straight to business'…?"

"Yeah. He went ahead and started the negotiations, since he thought they'd appreciate it if they got business out of the way as quick as possible."

Orochimaru felt the blood drain from his face. "Oh, no. Oh, no no no…"

"Sir? What's the matter?"

Ignoring Tayuya, he pushed past her and quickly entered the meeting room. He strode in, and was met with the sight of three Kages sitting in a circle around the table; to his disappointment the Raikage was not present. The Kazekage and the Tsuchikage were both dressed in their formal robes; the Mizukage, a woman Orochimaru had never laid eyes on before, was wearing a mesh suit. Also at the table sat Arashi Fuma. To his dismay, Orochimaru saw that Tayuya had been telling the truth, and he had been trying to do the negotiations without him. And it appeared that they were not going well.

Several of the Kages looked visibly upset, and Arashi's face was purple with rage.

"Lord Orochimaru," he said in a strained voice, looking up at his daimyo. "I, you, you've finally returned."

"And not a moment too soon, I should think," said the Mizukage, who hailed from the Hidden Mist Village. "Your lackey has succeeded in insulting each of us in turn."

"You are−" The head of the Fuma Clan began.

"Silence, Arashi!" Orochimaru boomed. "Leave!"

"I… As you wish, My Lord," said Arashi. He stuck up his empty hand in a hasty Sound Salute, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Orochimaru sighed. He had a bad feeling that these negotiations would have failed if he had not arrived as fast as he could. He had a worse feeling that they were still going to fail even though he had returned early. He sat himself down in Arashi's now vacant seat.

"Well, here we all are," he said pleasantly, looking around at all the Kages. _Or most of us, at least._ Being in the same room with so many powerful ninjas reminded him of his days in Akatsuki, even though the entire organization rarely ever met all at once. "To business, perhaps?"

"Is everyone in your ridiculous Empire as vulgar as this Arashi of yours?" asked the Mizukage, annoyed. Orochimaru looked at her warily. He had very little information about her and didn't even know how she got into the position to control a village. All he was aware of was that the Land of Water had been going through turbulent times, not unlike his own country.

"Arashi is a very important official in my Empire," Orochimaru finally answered carefully. "He is responsible for cleansing this country of subversives and enemies."

"You mean the carriers of bloodline limits?" inquired the Mizukage.

"Yes," said Orochimaru, nodding his head. "You would know something about that, wouldn't you?"

"Those were events that transpired before I took command," she answered. "In my opinion, the actions that were taken are a stain upon my nation's honor. If I were in any position to reverse the policy, I would, but the daimyo still believes that if any kekkei genkai carriers exist then they must be rooted out."

Orochimaru rubbed his chin. Water Country's leader still shared Orochimaru's views, but by all appearances this woman did not. If only he were in a position to converse with the daimyo himself… _This is a tricky business_, Orochimaru thought in frustration. He would have to turn the subject away from his country's policies.

"My nation was, and still is, in dire need of reform," he replied. "There were a multitude of problems that my predecessor refused to mend. The power structure was corrupt and inefficient; the military remained weak, ill-equipped, and poorly-trained; foreigners had no restrictions from coming in and taking advantage of us. I have done my very best to fix all of this. The bloodline carriers saw my changes as a threat to their power—in this country, they fancy themselves to be nobility, and believe they inherit political power alongside their combat talents. They repeatedly attempted to overthrow me and take back the control they had lost. And so we dealt with them."

"Your method of dealing with them is far more ruthless than anything that happened in the Land of Water," the Tsuchikage said, apparently feeling a need to add his opinion.

"Is it?" asked Orochimaru. "In the Land of Water, it was a wave of uncontrollable mob violence encouraged by the government. In my nation, things are kept far more civil."

"These camps are meant to be civil?" asked the Mizukage. "While it's true that not much news from inside this country gets out to the rest of us, there have been stories. Your way of doing things is more efficient, not more civil."

Orochimaru felt like sighing. They were making this a lot harder than it had to be. "Bloodline carriers have proven themselves a menace. This is something that has held true in every encounter I have had with them." He had to do his best to keep his irritation from showing. "If they were allowed to retain their power, they would have driven this country into the ground. Something needed to be done. I grew tired of their insolence, and we stripped them of their power and relocated them."

"It sounds like a waste of time and potential soldiers," interjected the Tsuchikage. "Surely not all of them are as subversive as you make them out to be."

"And that is why we have the camps," Orochimaru replied. "They are all transported to these locations, where we can assess their loyalty to this country. If they prove to be patriotic, they are released. If they prove to have no loyalty, then they remain. If we did not do this, then they would surely incite a disastrous civil war, which is something we must prevent."

The Mizukage and Tsuchikage remained silent for several moments, both of them considering Orochimaru's reasoning and the situation he had explained to them. The Kazekage, who was well aware of the true situation, remained silent. He might as well have never even arrived, since he had done nothing to support Orochimaru in front of the others.

"I believe," Orochimaru said, breaking the silence, "that we have discussed the Empire of Sound's domestic policies for long enough. We all know the true purpose of this meeting."

"Yes…a war against the Land of Fire," the Mizukage answered. "Funny, you abhor the thought of war within your country's borders, or any war that threatens your control of this country, but you're perfectly fine with launching a war that would lead to an uncountable number of deaths for other countries."

"What I'm perfectly fine with," Orochimaru replied, "is launching a war against a nation that poses a threat to every civilized nation in our region. For too long they have been allowed to amass their wealth and power. It has made them arrogant; they act only to increase their wealth and power further. They will only fight a war that they believe stands to gain them some form of profit, and they will turn their backs on an ally they deem to not be worth the effort." He let out a sigh. "Perhaps the biggest reason my country was on a path to ruin was the fact that they abandoned us in our time of need. They had promised to aid us if war were ever forced upon us, and when it was, they did nothing."

"This is nothing more than a personal vendetta, then?" the Mizukage asked. "You want revenge, and your plan was to drag us all into this so you could have it. Lord Otokage, this is not a war that I would want to have a part in."

"No," Orochimaru said, fervently shaking his head. "This is not about revenge. Far from it. If it were, I'd have tried to convince you that this was a war about justice, or something equally ridiculous. This is a war of necessity, nothing less."

"Elaborate, then. I'm curious as to why a devastating war against another of the Great Nations would be necessary."

"They have dangerously tilted the balance of power in this region, and if left to their own devices, the balance will only be tilted even further. They have led a long winning streak in their wars against the other nations; whether it's through true military prowess or sheer luck matters little. There is the Far West and the Far East, both absorbed in their own matters and apathetic about what occurs in our region. They cannot be counted on to come to our aid if the situation gets to a point where we can no longer affect it. We must take action, and we must do it now, while there is still time."

"We all have our grievances against the Land of Fire," the Kazekage suddenly spoke up, surprising Orochimaru. "For many of us, those grievances are very old. The Land of Water has perhaps the oldest; the history of wars between the two nations stretches back to ancient times. The Land of Fire stole what rightfully belonged to Water, 'liberating' lands that had happily lived under Water Country's rule since time immemorial. My own nation was robbed in a similar fashion, with Fire Country carving out a chunk of our land and directly adding it to their own empire. Earth Country was humiliated in a recent war, as was Lightning Country, whose emissary deigned to not join us today. The Empire of Sound is merely the most recent addition of countries to have been wronged by Fire Country. We all have our reasons to wage a war against Fire, and we all have something to gain from it."

"Exactly," Orochimaru said. "We have all lost something to them. This is an opportunity, perhaps the last opportunity we'll ever have, to take it all back, and destroy the Land of Fire forever."

"That is your goal?" the Mizukage asked. "The Land of Fire's annihilation?"

"Yes," Orochimaru answered confidently. "It's an ambitious goal, but it's one that we can achieve if we stand together. Do you believe this is something that should be avoided?" The Mizukage had come across as oddly pacifistic for a warrior, and Orochimaru seriously wondered if she'd keep on opposing the idea of war.

The woman did not reply, instead leaning back in her seat. Brushing her lower lip with a finger, she stared at the wall, a faraway look on her face as if she were deep in thought.

Orochimaru pulled out a large scroll depicting a map of the region and unrolled it on the table so that all of the Kages could clearly see it. The Tsuchikage had to stand up in his chair and lean forward to see it, but the Mizukage only glanced at it absently.

"You see the Land of Fire's position?" he said, tapping on the large nation with his finger. "It is favorable for trade, with routes leading to virtually every other country and rich ports lining the coast. But defending it on multiple fronts would be a strategic nightmare. The Empire of Sound to the north, the Land of Wind to the south, and the Land of Water to bombard the coast; geographically speaking, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. The Land of Earth does not border Fire, but your nation has something to gain. Earth is in a favorable position to conquer the shinobi nations of Rain, Grass, and Waterfall, as well as the surrounding non-shinobi nations. This would leave Fire helpless and isolated, without the hope of support. The Land of Lightning, if we are able to come to an independent agreement, is in a position to take the bordering non-shinobi nation to her south, the Land of Claw. Sound could expand north, and take the Land of Fang. The former borders of the two nations will remain intact, and become the new northern border of the Empire of Sound and the new southern border of the Land of Lightning."

"What better way to recover from an embarrassing loss…" murmured the Tsuchikage as he looked at the map. "We'd have our victory, and expand our lands along with it. Glorious."

Orochimaru turned to look at the Kazekage, who seemed to find it preferable to go back to being silent. "Lord Kazekage, are you still in full agreement with the terms of our alliance?"

He nodded his head. "Yes," he said quietly. "Once Konoha is crushed, the daimyo will see our true strength, and enter the war."

Orochimaru resisted the desire to roll his eyes. Despite being put in such a powerful position, the Fourth Kazekage was extraordinarily weak. He simply lacked the courage to do anything out of the norm, only following the paths of those before him. However, Orochimaru realized that the other Kages here would not have any idea what they were planning to do before they launched a full-scale war against Fire.

"Both Sound and Sand are sending in an all-shinobi force to wipe out the Hidden Leaf Village," he explained. "Sending in ordinary troops would be too slow, so that is out of the question. Once Leaf is crushed and all its ninjas exterminated, the Land of Fire will be severely weakened, and be even less capable of repulsing an invasion on multiple fronts."

"And the Hidden Smoke Village?" asked the Tsuchikage. Orochimaru recalled being asked a similar question by Kabuto.

"It lies to the south," he repeated. "The Land of Wind will destroy it once it has pushed up through the River Country."

"I see…" said the Tsuchikage, nodding his head slowly. He looked like he was deep in thought.

"Do you believe that this is something your daimyo would be interested in?" Orochimaru asked him, suspecting he knew the answer.

"Absolutely," the Tsuchikage answered. "We have waited a long time for something like this. I believe you can count on us to join you in this coming war."

"Excellent," Orochimaru answered elatedly. "And you, Lady Mizukage?"

Pulled from her thoughts, her eyes stopped staring straight ahead and turned towards him. "I…yes. I…must inform my daimyo of this…"

"Good, good." The Land of Water's daimyo would likely be as enthusiastic about this as the Tsuchikage and the Earth daimyo, even if her own willingness to take part was harder to gauge.

"The negotiations are concluded, then?" asked the Tsuchikage.

"They are," said Orochimaru, nodding his head. "Feel free to enjoy your stay here at the capital; it is a very beautiful city, now that it has been purged."

"Uhh, yes," said the Tsuchikage uncomfortably. "But I'm afraid that I must be off. I will have to return to Earth and tell the news to the daimyo."

"I as well…" said the Mizukage. "Please excuse me, I really shouldn't delay."

The Tsuchikage and Mizukage got up from their seats, said their farewells, and left the room.

Looking at the Kazekage, Orochimaru grinned. Words could not express his happiness at having these negotiations turn out so well. He had never imagined that his revenge against Konoha would be so absolute.

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The Otokage and the Kazekage stood on the balcony overlooking the city street outside the palace. A parade was taking place below them, with troops marching in perfect unison, dressed in their impressive uniforms. Boys with large drums hanging from their necks rapped out a sharp beat as they marched along. Soldiers riding on horses also participated, to the delight of small children in the cheering crowd.

Standard bearers at the front carried the banner of the Empire of Sound. Orochimaru was particularly proud of the flag, having designed it himself. It depicted a white circle in the middle, with a dark purple background. Inside the white circle was the symbol for the Sound Village, the quaver, colored black. It looked intimidating and unique, two traits that Orochimaru was particularly fond of.

"Magnificent," he murmured, as legions of men marched proudly before him and the civilians. Most of the citizens were doing the Sound Salute, raising their arms in the air and cheering.

"Indeed, they are impressive," said the Kazekage. They continued to watch the marching soldiers for several minutes before the Kazekage turned back to look at Orochimaru. "What will be done about the Land of Lightning?"

"I am not certain," Orochimaru replied. "I was under the belief that the Raikage had arrived in the capital, but the reports had been vague, and I simply assumed that was the case. We will have to establish contact with Lightning again, and quickly. Our invasion of Claw is not far off."

"Lightning would likely be fine with your plan. You allow them to take over a neighboring country, and they don't even have to participate in the war against Fire."

"Yes, although it would certainly be nice if they did," he remarked. He managed to look away from the parade below him and turned to the Kazekage. "At this point, are you feeling more open to the idea of killing your daimyo?"

The Kazekage did not meet his gaze, turning back to look at the troops. "I suppose so…" he said reluctantly. Orochimaru looked at him in surprise; he had been expecting the same answer as before. "Seeing how everything else appears to be on track, I don't think it would be wise to let the Wind daimyo take his time to figure things out for himself. We really don't have the time for his nonsense. I will order his assassination, and make sure he is replaced by a lord more… militant."

"You lack the gall to assume the position yourself, as I did?" asked Orochimaru, amused. The Kazekage shook his head.

"That is something I cannot do. I am not fit for such a position. The defense of my village, certainly. But governing an entire nation is beyond the scope of my abilities."

Orochimaru chuckled. The Kazekage had no idea that he had just saved his own life by agreeing to Orochimaru's plan at the last possible minute.

"What is so funny?" inquired the Kazekage.

"I was just thinking about how great a day it will be when the Land of Fire is crushed under our heel," he lied. "Just imagine. The anniversary of the day Konoha was attacked will be celebrated for generations to come. Our grandchildren will sing songs about our epic victory."

"Hmm." The Kazekage didn't sound very enthusiastic about the last part. Orochimaru knew that he had several children, perhaps two or three, with one of them being a container of a tailed beast. However, he wasn't sure what kind of relationship the man maintained with his children. Knowing the Kazekage, it probably wasn't a warm, loving one. As for the Otokage, he didn't plan on having any children of his own. He planned to see the future for himself.

He had at least one vessel ready for him in Konoha. Despite the incredible odds, he was certain that at least one would survive the curse seal. He knew it would be foolish to expect all three of them to live; that would take some sort of divine miracle. He had no reason to expect that. If there really was an Almighty God, Orochimaru had long since lost interest in worshipping Him. The thought of someone else holding the reigns was something that an ambitious man like him couldn't take. The god Orochimaru worshipped was Power, and he would go to any lengths to please that god.

"The Land of Fire has sat in the throne of supremacy for long enough, in my opinion," he went on. "Everything in this world crumbles and withers eventually. The Land of Fire is no exception. It will be swept away by our new alliance, and we will form the new axis that the world revolves around."

"Axis…" said the Kazekage. Orochimaru looked at him questioningly, and his gaze was returned. "The Axis Alliance," said the Kazekage, and Orochimaru heard the capital letters fall into place. "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"The Axis Alliance…" repeated the Otokage. A smile slowly spread across his face. Unique and intimidating, just the way he liked it. "You're right. It does have a nice ring to it."

The two men returned to looking at the marching soldiers before them, confident of their flawless plan. Soon enough, their day would come.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Faith is only as good as the one in whom it's invested."

- Lee Strobel


	19. Out of the Forest

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 19: Out of the Forest_

The morning sun was just beginning to push its way up over the horizon, illuminating the sky in a pleasant purple color. Shino, unfortunately, was too busy tending to his fallen teammates to notice it, much less enjoy it. He hadn't slept at all during the night, never letting himself doze off for even a moment. The risks were too high to do something so foolish.

Kiba and Akamaru were still unconscious, but they would recover fine. Sasuke's condition, though, was different. In addition to receiving a strange tattoo, Sasuke had gotten a very high fever.

Mysteriously, it was beginning to subside without warning. One minute Sasuke was shivering and moaning, the next he had calmed down and had a peaceful look on his face. Upon inspection, his forehead no longer burned Shino's hand when he felt it.

He exhaled a breath in relief. The worst case scenario was that Sasuke would have died. Then they would have failed the Chunin Exam… And Sasuke wouldn't be alive anymore either, decidedly the lesser of the two evils. But it was a moot point now, Sasuke looked like he was going to turn out fine, just like Kiba and Akamaru. Now, all he had to do was wait for them to wake up, then they could make it to the central tower.

_Not to mention deal with a couple of would-be stalkers…_

His bugs had patrolled the entire area all night for him, and it didn't take them long to report back to him that there was a team of rival Genin lurking in the foliage nearby. He had prepared himself for their inevitable confrontation, setting up traps when he was sure that they wouldn't be able to see what he was doing. They thought that he had no idea they were there, and so wanted to keep it that way. They retreated slightly, clearly in an attempt to keep out of earshot and hide their presence. All they were doing was letting him have more time thinking up traps to thwart them.

And now, with the sun beginning to rise, a harmless squirrel making its way towards him was his sole focus. It scurried underneath the thin metal wire he had set up and continued running towards him, as if it was somehow being commanded to do so.

Shrewdly, he gazed at it and deduced its true purpose. He realized that this was a perfect opportunity to eliminate the enemy team in one move. If that poor squirrel would have to die for that… Well, you couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

He threw a kunai at its feet, stopping it dead in its tracks. The squirrel looked at the blade, terrified, then turned around and ran in the opposite direction. Shino's brow furrowed in frustration. It was running in the wrong direction.

He threw another kunai, prompting it to run in yet another direction. The exploding tag that Shino had suspected was there was now clearly visible, and beginning to burn. He threw kunais at the animal until it was running in the exact direction he wanted it to. If his bugs were right…

The squirrel ran into some bushes, where the rival Genin had been only several minutes ago. Several seconds later, a loud explosion rocked the earth, and several trees burst into flames. Shino peered at the spot intently. With just a little bit of luck, he would have captured the enemy in the blast radius.

"That was just cruel!" said the voice of a boy. He stepped out of some bushes, and was followed by a girl with long dark hair and another boy with his face wrapped up like a mummy. It was the Sound Genin. "You didn't have to kill an innocent squirrel!" The boy's voice dripped with scorn.

"Don't come another step closer," Shino warned. "You'll regret it."

All three of the Genin laughed.

"Or what?" scoffed the Sound kunoichi. "We'll fall over this little tripwire you set up? You're way too obvious!" She nimbly leaped over the metal wire, clearly in an attempt to emphasize its uselessness.

She fell straight into the pit Shino had dug and concealed, a look of shock visible on her face for a moment before she disappeared. Her teammates could only look on helplessly as she fell and screamed. Her screaming only intensified when she landed, and for good reason. Shino had placed dozens of sharpened sticks on the bottom, ready to pierce anyone foolish enough to fall in.

The first Sound Genin ran to the mouth of the pit in desperation, apparently trying to help. Shino smirked and cut the string next to him with a kunai, triggering a log to swing down towards him with incredible speed. When he had set up the trap, Shino had angled the log to fall at the fastest speed possible.

"Zaku!" cried the other Genin, far too late. Zaku turned and looked, then saw the log descending upon him. A look of fear flashed across his face, and he tried to move out of the way. But he was much too slow; he managed to turn around, and the log crashed into his back with incredible force, throwing him forward as he screamed. His flight was brought to a painful halt as he collided with another tree. He let out a groan; to cap it all off, the log finished its swing by crashing into his back yet again. He collapsed and did not move.

Shino cut the second string next to him, and another log swung down on the last Sound Genin. To his dismay, the ninja pulled back his sleeve, revealing some strange metal device. As the log got closer, it splintered into thousands of pieces, leaving him unharmed.

"That'll be you next time," the Sound Genin warned Shino.

"You won't get the chance," Shino replied. "Look behind you."

The Sound ninja turned his head slightly, and saw an immense carpet of dark insects crawling towards him.

"Wha−"

"You have two options," Shino said simply. "Answer my questions then get the hell out of here, or get hurt _then_ answer my questions."

"Forget it!" yelled the Sound Genin. "I can scare these bugs away no problem!" He aimed his strange metal device at the mass of moving insects and activated it. Nothing happened. Shino sighed, annoyed.

"Insects are impervious to sound," he said. "And that's obviously what your attacks are. Just sound, amplified enough to destroy inanimate objects and possibly nauseate humans. Nothing more."

The Sound ninja snarled furiously and began throwing kunais and shurikens at the bugs.

"That's not helping," Shino said, growing even more irritated. "Now knock it off."

"_What the hell do you want to know?!_"

"Who is Orochimaru, and what does he want with Sasuke?"

"What?" asked the ninja, shocked. "How do you know about him?"

"He attacked us, and gave Sasuke some sort of cursed seal. I already know that you're all from the same village. What is he planning?"

The ninja remained silent for a moment. When he spoke again, he sounded like he was in a daze. "Orochimaru commanded us to go after Sasuke…" he said. "But he got to Sasuke first. He must have…"

"Must have what?"

"He set us up!" said the Sound Genin angrily, sounding betrayed. "We were never sent here to seriously compete in the Chunin Exam. He ordered us to go after Sasuke as soon as we got to the second stage and kill him. But if he gave him the curse seal first, then he was just playing us the entire time! No wonder he told us we had to wait until dawn to attack!"

"What does the curse seal do?"

"It gives him unimaginable power. If he had come after us with it, we would have lost for sure."

Shino was quiet for a moment, trying to make sense of everything. It seemed like the only one who really knew what was going on was Orochimaru. "Get out of here," he finally said. "Take your friends and go." The mass of insects began to retreat away from the lone Sound ninja.

He walked over to the pit and bent to reach down into it. After several minutes of struggle, he pulled out a bleeding and moaning kunoichi, with stab wounds all over her body. She was miraculously still alive, but needed some serious medical attention.

She struggled to keep up with her teammate as they walked over to Zaku's body. The only uninjured Sound Genin picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. They turned to leave, and the kunoichi sent a glare in Shino's direction. She seemed to feel somehow betrayed that he would set up an extra trap that she hadn't expected. As if this was meant to be a fair fight…

"The next time we fight, we won't run," said the Sound ninja. "Remember that." They took off and disappeared into the trees.

Shino stared after them, then sighed. Fending them off had been much easier than he had expected, but the current situation was still rather alarming. He turned around when he heard a rustling noise behind him. Sasuke had gotten up into a sitting position, and was clutching his head.

"What happened?" he asked, sounding confused. "I've got one helluva headache…"

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Naruto woke up to find himself lying down on the ground, looking up at the treetops above him. The only thing he could remember was the strange dream he had had about Hinata. He remembered the sensation of her lips against his so well that for a moment he thought that it had really happened. Sadly, he realized that it wasn't real. It couldn't be real, because…

He suddenly became fully awake, remembering what had happened. Orochimaru had taken Hinata! He struggled to climb to his feet, but he was dreadfully uncoordinated and almost fell.

"Naruto!" a voice behind him cried excitedly. "You're finally awake!"

He stumbled forward as Sakura practically flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug that nearly crushed his ribs.

"I was so worried," she said. "After you didn't wake up…"

"Hinata," he croaked out. "Where is she?"

"Oh," said Sakura, and released him. "Hinata… she's over there."

Naruto turned to look at where she was pointing, and saw that Hinata was also awake. She was huddled up at the base of a tree and hugging her knees, a blank look in her eyes.

"Hinata!" He stumbled slightly as he ran towards her, and she quickly lifted up her head to look at him. Life seemed to return to her lavender eyes, and a bright smile illuminated her face. He awkwardly lowered himself to give her a hug as he ran to her, one that was even more intense than the one Sakura had given him moments ago. Hinata returned the embrace, and Naruto felt tears beginning to well up in his eyes. He fervently blinked them back, but the emotions remained.

Just like in his dream, he had been terrified that something horrible had happened to her. The last time he saw her before slipping into unconsciousness was her limp body hanging from a tree branch, with Orochimaru sitting nearby. For all he knew, she could have been dead. He had failed her.

He had failed to uphold his nindo. He had tried as hard as he could, he had even gone as far as to kill those two imposters, but it hadn't been enough. It hadn't been nearly enough… He would have given anything for her to be all right. Had it been the thought that counted? Because she was perfectly fine.

He felt the insane urge to kiss her, the same way he had in his dream. He wanted to believe that it was out of mere curiosity to see if his dream had been right, but he knew that there was a stronger reason behind it. For now though, he would gladly settle for just hugging her.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry I didn't help you…"

"You tried, Naruto," Hinata said back. Her voice sounded quieter than normal, as if she didn't feel like talking. "You tried as hard as you could, and that's all that matters to me."

"But you could have died…"

"I didn't."

Naruto realized that she was right. Regardless of everything that had happened, everyone had turned out all right. He let go of Hinata, and she clung onto him for another moment before she released him. He turned back around to look at Sakura, who was staring at the two of them with a blank expression.

"What happened after I got knocked out?" he asked her. "All of us were down by the time I reached Hinata." It took Sakura moment to respond; it looked like she had been spacing out for a moment.

"I woke up first, I think," she finally said. "I was bleeding and had a broken wrist, but I was able to heal myself fine." She held up her wrist and twirled it around to prove its ability to function normally. "I must have only been out for a couple of hours, because it was still dark when I woke up. I went looking for you guys, and found both of you hanging from a tree branch. I got both of you down. Hinata had a fever, but it went away pretty quick. She woke up about an hour ago."

"She had a fever?" asked Naruto, confused. "What, did you heal her or something?"

"I tried, but it didn't do anything. I pumped tons of healing chakra into her, but she only got worse and worse. Then all of a sudden, she started cooling off and went back to normal. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

Naruto turned back to Hinata, and unthinkingly placed the palm of his hand on her forehead. Her cheeks turned red, but her forehead felt normal. He suddenly realized that he had basically been sticking his hands all over her since he had woken up, and quickly took it back. Team 7 remained painfully silent for a moment.

"So… are we ready to get going?" Naruto asked, trying to break the silence. Both of the kunoichis only stared at him.

"I don't think that we're ready to start looking for more teams yet," Sakura said. "Why don't we, you know, let Hinata rest for a little bit?"

Naruto caught the two girls give each other what seemed like a secret look, and Hinata rubbed the back of her neck uneasily. "Okay, sure…" Naruto said, wondering what it was they weren't telling him. "Well, tell me when you guys want to get moving again."

Naruto wasn't in the best shape either, but he was eager to just get the hell out of the Forest of Death as fast as he could. Sure, he wanted to make it all the way to the end of the Chunin Exam and become a Chunin, but his encounter with Orochimaru had creeped him out. What would happen if he returned?

_I just wanna get to the next stage, and fast…_

He walked over to another tree and sat down, leaning against its trunk. He closed his eyes and dozed off, mentally exhausted as well as physically.

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Neji awoke to the feeling of rushing air in his face. He blinked and tried to focus on his surroundings, but everything flew past in a blur. For a terrible moment, he thought that he was still a bird, and that a snake would be lying in wait for him right around the corner.

But he soon realized what as really happening: Tenten and Lee were both holding onto him as they leaped through the forest, hopping from tree branch to tree branch. He tried to say something to them, but all that came out was a weak groan.

"He's awake!" Tenten suddenly said, hearing him. They landed on a branch and carefully set Neji down.

"What happened?" he asked, disoriented. He rubbed the back of his neck; it felt sore.

"We found you lying out in the middle of the forest, knocked out," Lee explained. "You looked pretty roughed up, as if you had been in a fight. We just picked you up and started carrying you."

"Where are we headed?"

"The central tower," Lee answered simply.

"But we only have one scroll."

"No, we've got two now," Tenten said. "We ran into another Genin team when we were looking for you, and beat them. They had the scroll we needed, and we took it."

"Lucky break…" Neji muttered. He struggled to stand upright, and soon lost his balance. Tenten and Lee grabbed onto his arms, supporting him.

"You should not strain yourself," Lee advised. "We will carry you the rest of the way." Neji sighed.

"Where did that mark come from?" Tenten asked.

"What mark?"

"The one on your neck."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," spat Neji, annoyed. What nonsense was she babbling about?

"There's a black mark on the back of your neck," Tenten insisted. "It's shaped like a pinwheel or something."

"Tenten is right," Lee agreed. "It looks like a tattoo, but I cannot remember you having it before we began the second stage."

Neji rubbed at his neck again, wondering if the soreness had anything to do with the pinwheel tattoo they were talking about. The memory of his fight with Orochimaru suddenly came back to him, and he remembered a sharp pain in his neck before passing out. Orochimaru must have done something to his neck, but he hadn't been able to see what because of the genjutsu's effects.

"I… I'm sure it's nothing," he said. "We can have Guy-sensei look at it when we get out of the forest." Whatever that mark was, it almost certainly _was_ something to worry about. However, there was nothing they could do about it now except try to finish the second stage as fast as possible.

"Sure, whatever," said Tenten. Both her and Lee hefted Neji to rest on their shoulders, and they leaped off once again.

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It took two entire days before Sakura was satisfied enough with Hinata's well being before she agreed to go out hunting rival teams once more. Despite their best efforts and Hinata's Byakugan, however, they were unable to find any other teams. Hinata seemed prone to exhaustion and needed frequent breaks, to Naruto's puzzlement. He had regained all of his stamina, so why hadn't she? All the while, Sakura and Hinata seemed to be engaging in private conversations, leaving him out and changing the subject as soon as he tried to find out what was going on.

Exhausted from hopping all over the forest without finding any enemy teams, they decided to call it quits by late afternoon, finding a clearing to camp for the night. They had begun their hunt at the crack of dawn at Naruto's insistence, and so were much more drained than they normally would have been at that time.

Naruto collapsed to sit down on a rock, panic beginning to eat away at him. The fourth day was ending, and only one more day would be left to find other Genin. At this rate, they were going to miss the deadline and fail.

_We have to win_, he thought desperately. _Surviving the Forest of Death is one thing, but passing it is another. We can't lose here!_

Sakura emerged from some bushes, a stack of sticks and tree branches in her arms. She dropped them on the ground and they rolled in different directions. Wiping her forehead, she sighed tiredly and sat down on the ground, crossing her legs. She hung her head for a minute, leading Naruto to believe that she had fallen asleep. However, she quickly shot her head back up and looked over at Naruto.

"Hey Naruto!" she called. "Do you still have some of those fish from earlier?"

"Yeah," he responded. "Why?" Several hours earlier, Team 7 had come across a small stream that ran through the forest. They had caught fish and ate them for lunch before moving on. The stream was still relatively close, since they had followed its path as they trudged through the dark forest.

"Because, we can start a fire and cook them," Sakura said. Naruto reached into his pocket, where he had wrapped the fish up in aluminum foil. It made a scratchy noise as he pulled them out.

"Are you sure we have to cook them?" Naruto asked. "I thought we could use 'em for sushi or something later on." Sakura's nose wrinkled up in disgust.

"Don't be stupid, Naruto," she scolded. "They'll go bad if you just keep them in your pocket like that." Naruto frowned at the thought of that, and walked up to Sakura. They started propping the sticks up to make a fire, and Naruto once again began his attempts to ignite it by banging a rock against a kunai.

He finally got a spark after several minutes, and the sticks caught on fire. A full blaze picked up within seconds, and the two began using twigs to hold the fish over the flames. As they quietly sat there, Hinata suddenly walked over to them from her resting spot under a tree.

"Hi Hinata!" said Naruto cheerfully. "You want some of the leftover fish?" He waved his fish in the air so she could clearly see it.

"No thank you," she said quietly, shaking her head. He watched her hair sweep from side to side, and was surprised to find that he thought it was cute. For some reason, everything Hinata did was beginning to seem very cute to him. She took a seat by her teammates and gazed into the fire, the rims of her lavender eyes outlined by red. Naruto stared at her as the orange light flickered across her face.

It was strange that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. What was it about her that captivated him like this? Concern about how she was doing after Orochimaru's attack could only explain so much. Was it her beauty? But even that didn't completely explain all the confusing emotions he felt at the moment. Back when he had been infatuated with Sakura, he certainly hadn't felt like this whenever he had peeked at her.

"Naruto!" yelled Sakura, breaking into his thoughts. "Watch what you're doing!" He quickly turned away from Hinata, and saw that his fish had caught on fire from him holding it too close to the flames. He frantically started flapping it in the air, but that only made the flames spread quicker. He then tried blowing it out as if it were a candle, and when that didn't work, he furiously threw it on the ground and stomped on it until the fire was put out.

"Great job," said Sakura grumpily. "You wasted an entire fish."

"Well sorry!" Naruto retorted angrily. "It's not like you were going to eat it anyways!" Sakura glared up at him, looking evil as the firelight danced across her face. However, she didn't move to strike him, something that almost certainly would have happened less than a month ago. For some reason, she had been less inclined to beat him up lately.

He looked down at the ruined fish below him. Some parts were charred black, while others were still raw and pink. The whole thing was covered with dirt, and inedible. In his frustration he kicked at it with his foot, flipping it over. He sat back down on the ground and sighed, resting his chin on his fist.

He knew what was going on. The fear that they were going to fail was beginning to get to them. Maybe not Hinata; he wasn't sure how she was taking all of this, since she hardly ever talked unless asked a direct question. Her unwillingness to talk only seemed to have gotten worse ever since Orochimaru's attack. He looked back in her direction. She had been staring at him, and quickly turned to look back at the fire in front of her.

Why did she always look away from him like that? Was she afraid that he'd get mad at her if they made eye contact or something? He suddenly felt embarrassed about bursting into a rage in front of her. He reached for one of the other fish and stabbed it with a twig.

"Are you sure you don't want some fish, Hinata?" he asked her, calming down from his outburst. "You must be hungry." She looked back up at him.

"I'm fine Naruto," she said. "I… already ate." Naruto stared at her for a second, and she did her best to not meet his gaze.

"What did you eat?" he asked her, slightly suspiciously. "I don't remember you eating anything since lunch."

"Really, I just don't have much of an appetite," Hinata insisted. "You can have the fish if you want it."

"It's not about the fish," responded Naruto, impatience beginning to sneak into his voice. "You need to eat, Hinata. You need to keep your strength up."

"Just leave her alone, Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "You have no idea what she's been through!" He quickly set his sights on her.

"Then why don't you enlighten me?" he asked angrily, quickly forgetting all about Hinata. "Neither of you seem to want to tell me about it!" Sakura realized her mistake and clammed up.

"It's… It's the forest!" she yelled. "It's getting to her! Just leave her be!"

"Quit lying to me!" Naruto yelled, positively furious now. He was tired of all the secrets, and her weak excuses weren't helping. "You think I'm too stupid to know that you're both keeping a secret from me? I've seen you two talking when you think I can't hear! There's something you're not telling me, and I want to know what it is!"

"It's none of your damn business!" Sakura yelled back, finally dropping the act.

"It _is_ my damn business!" he roared. "She's my teammate! You think I fought and killed for nothing?! You think I don't care about what happened to her?!"

"Just stop it!" Hinata suddenly screamed, breaking her silence. Her face was red and tears were running down her cheeks. "Both of you, just stop it! We can't be fighting like this! Not over me!"

The embarrassment Naruto had felt before had returned, except now it felt a thousand times worse; he had made Hinata cry. His rage quickly evaporated, replaced by shame. Why couldn't he have just asked her what was going on instead of losing it in a fight with Sakura?

"Hinata…" What could he say? He felt like hugging her again, though he doubted that would help much. Sakura looked like she was at a loss for words, falling silent and gaping at Hinata. Naruto remembered how the whole thing had started: over some stupid fish.

Hinata abruptly turned around and began walking away. "I'm going to get some water," she said before Naruto could say anything. "You guys just wait here." Her voice was still very emotional, and Naruto watched her as she left his sight and disappeared into the trees.

"She shouldn't be alone…" he muttered. What if she was ambushed on the way there? How would he be able to deal with that, knowing that he had been the one to chase her away? He really wished that he could go back to five minutes ago and not offer Hinata that stupid fish. Now what could he do? He took a step in the direction that she had left.

"Let her go Naruto," Sakura said quietly. "She'll be fine." She seemed much more subdued now. It looked like their argument was over now. He reluctantly decided to trust her judgement and stopped in his tracks.

Exhaling a deep breath, he sat back down and hung his head. The fire crackled in front of him, the only reliable source of light as the sun began to set over the horizon. The only light left in the day now was orange, and it strangely gave him a sort of depressed feeling.

The light of the dying sun wasn't the solid yellow of noon or the inky black of night. It was caught somewhere in the middle, and changed tone with every passing second. It wasn't a comforting constant, just a confusing continuous change. Just like his life. Why couldn't everything just stay the same? Why couldn't it just stay simple and understandable? Just like the sunset, the world around him seemed to be getting swallowed by the rising darkness.

To his surprise, Sakura got up to take a seat next to him, moving away from her position opposite from him. She was silent for a long moment.

"I'm sorry," she said suddenly. She said it quietly, the way Hinata normally talked. For a second Naruto thought he had heard her wrong. Since when had Sakura apologized for anything to him? Since when did she ever want to actually reconcile with him after an argument? Everything was so confusing…

Naruto grunted in response. He wasn't in the best of moods, and didn't feel like having a conversation. Sakura, however, didn't get angry at him, instead looking into the fire sadly.

"You're scared of losing, aren't you?" she finally asked him. She got no response from her teammate. "I'm starting to worry too," she continued, as if he had agreed with her in the first place. "But we shouldn't start fighting each other like this. I mean… we're precious to each other, right?"

She said the last part so quietly that Naruto almost didn't hear her. When he had assured himself that he had heard correctly, he felt astonishment sweep through him. Sakura had never confessed to having anything even remotely like affection for anyone but Sasuke. Now Naruto and Hinata were precious to her all of a sudden? Maybe it wasn't so sudden, after all. When Naruto thought back to all of their previous missions, he suddenly remembered that Sakura always seemed to do more than was necessary, just to help her teammates. He remembered the fierce hug she had given him as soon as he had woken up after the attack. Did she really harbor emotions for anyone other than Sasuke?

"Yeah…" Naruto slowly replied. "You're right…" They remained silent for a while. He turned to look at Sakura. "Can you please tell me what's wrong with Hinata?" he asked her. "I need to know…"

"Do you remember how you never said what happened that made you stop talking to Hinata before the Exam started?" Sakura asked. "It's a lot like what you told me. If Hinata wants to tell you, then she'll tell you. She made me promise to keep it a secret. If I just went and told you, then it would be like betraying her."

Naruto sighed. What was it that Hinata didn't want to tell him? Didn't she trust him? Maybe she didn't… "I understand," he finally said. If he had to ask Hinata what was going on, then he would ask her. However, he now knew better than to assume that she didn't want to say anything to him. An awkward silence followed, which Sakura eventually broke.

"Naruto…" she said. She sounded troubled. "I've been meaning to ask you for a long time… What… powers do you get whenever you get so mad?"

"Powers?" asked Naruto, confused. "What powers?"

"When Orochimaru attacked, when you killed those two guys… you turned into a completely different person. You… turned into an animal or something."

Naruto recalled the feeling of incredible power that had flowed through him that day. He had experienced something very similar when he thought that Haku had killed Hinata. The uncontrollable rage let something slip through, something powerful…

_You are the nine-tailed fox!_

Mizuki's words suddenly came to him. On that day, he had finally learned the truth about everything. About why the entire village hated him, why the adults ignored him and their children ganged up on him.

After learning about the fact that the spirit of the demon fox resided within him, he had done his best to cope with that. Sometimes he felt like he didn't care; other times he felt like he had no right to live. The acceptance Hinata had given him was something that he felt he couldn't go on without. The knowledge that someone his own age cared about him was a feeling that he had never experienced, and the fact that Hinata had always wanted to be his friend only made him feel like he had somehow been short-changed.

But what if the fox had something to do with his strange power? Could there be any other explanation? He wasn't sure, but he decided that telling Sakura he was the container of the nine-tailed demon fox wouldn't be a very good decision.

"I'm not sure where the power comes from…" Naruto said truthfully. He had a pretty good idea, but he wasn't sure. "But it's only ever come out when I have to protect someone I care about, like some sort of trigger or something."

"That's how determined you were to save me?" Sakura murmured, staring at him. "You went crazy just because they were going after me?"

"I'd die for you," Naruto responded quietly. He stared into the flames, remembering the fear he had felt for Hinata and Sakura. The words had sort of just tumbled out of his mouth, but they were true. The painful truth was that even if he risked his life, it might not be enough to save his friends. His failure to get to Hinata in time proved that.

"Naruto…" Sakura's voice sounded slightly high-pitched when she spoke, and he turned to look at her. Her eyes were shiny as she looked at him. "I don't think I've ever thanked you for doing so much for me," she continued. "For your team. Th-thank you, Naruto. Thank you so much…"

She wiped her eyes with her hand, then turned back to stare at the fire. Naruto looked on at her in shock. Was this really how she felt about him?

"You're welcome," he murmured quietly.

88888888

Hinata made her way to the stream, determined to get as far away from the camp as possible. She wasn't really going to get water; she hadn't even brought the small wooden container. She just had to get away from the fighting. She really had been through a lot since Orochimaru's attack, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. The mounting stress was beginning to weigh heavier on her shoulders.

She finally emerged from the thick trees, and the stream lay before her. The orange sun reflected off it in rippling shades as the water flowed past. It was several feet to the bottom in its deepest part, and sand and rough rocks made up the shores. Wandering closer to the water, she gently sat herself down on the damp sand. It felt cool under her bare fingers, and she stared at the running river with a focus bordering on intensity.

She was deep in thought however, barely seeing the stream before her. All she could think about was the memory of what had happened after she had woken up from her strange dream.

88888888

_As Hinata began waking up, she felt cold. The chill swept through her, and it felt like she was about to start chattering her teeth. Her eyes beginning to open, there was only one warm spot on her entire body. Something hot was pressing down on her chest from underneath her shirt. Disoriented, she managed to sit up and brought her hand up to grope for whatever the hot object was._

_Her fingers found something hard and shaped like a circle existing under her clothes, and it felt warm even through her multiple layers of clothes. She quickly realized that there was only one thing it could be._

_Disbelief coursing through her, she reached up to her neck and tugged on the chain there, pulling her sun necklace out from under her clothes. She let the circle rest in the palm of her hand, its heat warming her. It felt like it had been dunked in a pot of boiling water. It seemed like some sort of energy was running through it, or something. Was it some bizarre jutsu? She had never heard of a jutsu having effects like this._

"_Hinata!" Sakura's voice suddenly rang out. "You're okay!" The pink-haired kunoichi ran to her, quickly resting one of her hands on Hinata's shoulder and pressing another one on her forehead. "Your fever's completely gone," she said._

"_My fever?" Hinata asked, not sure if she had heard Sakura right. Her hand was closed tightly around her necklace._

"_Yeah, you had a fever," Sakura said. "But it's gone now." There was a long silence. "Hinata, do you know anything about this black mark on the back of your neck?"_

"_Black mark?"_

"_There's a pinwheel tattoo or something there. You didn't have it earlier."_

"_I…" Hinata was unsure how to respond. If her dreams were right, then the mark had a very sinister purpose. She fervently hoped that her dreams were entirely her creation. She hoped that no man in armor had really talked to her, that the marching demons were neither a vision of Hell nor a reflection of reality. "Orochimaru bit my neck with some kind of attack," she finally answered. Of all the things she had been put through, this was the only thing she knew was true. "It probably has something to do with it."_

"_It looks like a curse mark," Sakura said uneasily._

"_A what?" Hinata asked worriedly. Her dream had revealed to her that Orochimaru had given her a curse seal. If that was true, then how much of the other stuff was true?_

"_A curse seal," Sakura repeated. "It's a forbidden jutsu. I'm not really sure what they're supposed to do or why exactly they're forbidden, but only extremely advanced ninjas can give them to someone else. I don't think that getting one would be a good thing…"_

"_Do you know if there's any way to take them off?" Hinata asked hopefully._

"_Not that I know of," Sakura answered. "We'll just get Kakashi to look at it once we're out of this place. He'll know what to do." Hinata thought about what she said. Just because she didn't know a way to remove a curse seal didn't mean no one else did. Maybe Kakashi would know, or the Hokage. Her dream could still be wrong._

"_Where's Naruto?" Hinata suddenly asked. She hadn't seen him at all ever since she was taken away. "Is he okay?"_

"_I'm not sure," Sakura answered sadly, shaking her head. "I found him knocked out right next to you, and he hasn't woken up yet."_

_Horrified, Hinata tried to climb to her feet, only to be held down by Sakura._

"_Relax, he's fine," Sakura told her. "I've been checking on him, he's just unconscious."_

"_What happened?" Hinata asked. She was gripping her necklace even tighter, the fear still strong within her. "Is he hurt?"_

"_After you got taken away, those two guys were trying to kill us. Naruto killed them." There was a long pause before she continued, letting that sink in. "I got hurt and passed out. When I woke up, I looked for you guys and found you both hanging from a tree branch. I got you down and watched you guys until you woke up just now." Hinata rubbed the back of her neck uneasily with her free hand. It was beginning to feel sore._

"_Sakura… don't tell Naruto what happened," she said quietly. Sakura looked confused._

"_Why not?"_

"_Because… I don't want him to know. I don't know what he'll do if he finds out I was given this… curse seal. He might blame himself or something, and I don't want that to happen. And besides, he doesn't really have to know about it, does he?"_

"_I don't know…" _

"_Sakura, please," Hinata pleaded. "I want to keep this a secret." What if Naruto found out and was disgusted with her? Would he really do that? What would her father do if he found out? Would he even care? She just wanted to keep this a secret for as long as she could._

"_Alright," Sakura said, resigned. "I won't tell Naruto or anyone else."_

"_Thank you," Hinata said, relieved. A silence followed, with the quiet only being broken by the odd cricket chirp. "Sakura," Hinata suddenly inquired, "while I was out, did you mess with my necklace?" She held the sun design up for Sakura to clearly see. It had been steadily cooling off ever since she had woken up, but some of its former warmth still lingered._

"_Mess with your necklace?" Sakura asked, confused. "Of course not!"_

"_You didn't do any jutsu on my chest, or anything?"_

"_No, the only jutsu I did was some healing around your stomach to try and help your fever. I never even touched your chest."_

"_Okay," Hinata said. She dropped her necklace back underneath her collar so that it would rest on the bare skin underneath. Its heat felt soothing._

"_Why do you ask? Is something wrong with it?"_

"_No, I was just wondering, was all…"_

"_Err, if you say so…" Sakura shrugged, then turned back towards Naruto. He was still fast asleep, his arms folded across his chest by Sakura. Hinata stood up, her legs wobbly. She walked over to sit down and lean on a nearby trunk. Lost in her own thoughts, time quickly slipped by._

88888888

Hinata repeated the memory over and over again in her mind. The memory of her dream was also disturbingly vivid.

_It's just a dream_, she told herself. _They're all nothing but dreams. The fire fox fighting the lightning snake is just my imagination getting all worked up. There is no Orange ninja fighting a Purple ninja. There is no war coming, and no armored knight named Michael. It's all just a bunch of ridiculous dreams._

But what could explain the curse seal existing in both her dream and real life? If she had no idea what a curse seal was when she had been attacked, then how could she dream about having one? The same thing applied to the Kyubi from her first dream. And how did her necklace become so hot? There were so many questions, and not a single answer to be found.

As she continued staring at the water, she began feeling hot and sticky from all the sweat she had accumulated over the past several days. Despite the fact that it was a cool night, she began feeling incredibly hot. Remembering that she hadn't bathed once since she entered the Forest of Death, she looked at the running stream with renewed interest.

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Naruto clumsily made his way through the forest. He constantly tripped and stumbled over various tree roots, and he was sometimes slapped in the face by a branch full of leaves. In his hand he carried a small container for water; it was made of thin wood and flimsy, but it carried water just fine. Hinata had left to get some water, but had somehow neglected to take it with her. She had been gone a bit too long for him to feel comfortable, so he had left the camp under the pretense that he had to relieve himself in some bushes. He decided that he might as well get some water while he went to get Hinata, and so took the container with him. Sakura, thankfully, hadn't questioned his reasoning for taking the water container with him when he said he was going to pee. It would have been rather awkward if she had.

Since Hinata had said she was going to get some water, he decided that the stream was a good place to start looking for her. He was curious as to why she hadn't returned when she realized she didn't have anything to bring back the water with. The only logical conclusion to him was that she _couldn't_ return, and so he quickly began to worry.

It was quickly getting darker and harder to make his way through the forest. Though there was a hint of sunlight on the edge of the horizon, darkness had already consumed most of the sky. The moon, a white crescent, hung in the sky, casting its pale light on the world.

After it started taking longer than he thought it should to reach the stream, he began to fear he had gotten lost. He began feeling furious with himself for losing his way. How could he get lost if they had camped directly parallel to the river? As he angrily stomped forward, he suddenly heard the familiar sound of water lapping against the shore. Relieved, he calmed down and headed towards the noise. He hadn't gotten lost after all. He wondered where Hinata would be, and silently hoped that she was just sitting there, relaxing. That would explain why she hadn't returned to camp.

He saw a gap in the trees and headed towards it. Still covered in darkness, he could see the river flowing past. He reached the gap and began taking a step towards the water, determined to get some before he left. However, he wound up leaving his foot hanging in the air, and he stopped dead in his tracks. He couldn't move; the sight before him had paralyzed him.

In his vision was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

On the shore, Hinata's clothes were neatly folded and stacked away from the water, keeping them dry. In the stream itself, Hinata bathed in the water. She was submerged from the waist down, completely naked save for a black bra and underwear. Her skin was wet and reflected the moonlight, turning it silver and making her appearance even more mesmerizing.

He had always though Hinata was pretty, but… she was gorgeous. Of the thousands of words that ran through his head in that moment, that was the only one that could possibly hope to describe what he was seeing. Saying that she was beautiful would have been an extreme understatement.

He couldn't tear his eyes away from her body, her slender limbs and perfect curves. He could only stare at her, totally entranced. Every tiny movement she made received his full attention.

She cupped her hands and splashed water over herself, sliding her hands across her arms and stomach as she cleaned herself. Her movements were graceful and relaxed, as if she were putting on an elaborate performance. She dipped her head under the surface then whipped it back up, sending water in all directions. Naruto trembled as he looked at her. She was perfect.

He was suddenly rudely interrupted by a desperate need for air; he had completely forgotten to breathe as he gaped at her. He took in a ragged gasp of air, and then felt a sharp pain in his hand. He looked down at it. The wooden container had been crushed in his hand, reduced to splinters that cut him and drew blood. He quickly looked back at Hinata when he heard a loud splashing; she was beginning to get out of the water, walking towards her clothes… and him.

Horrified, Naruto dropped the pieces of wood in his hand and took off. What would he do if she caught him peeping at her? What could he possibly say that wouldn't make him out to be a pervert? He ran back to camp as fast as he could, noisily crashing through the brush in the general direction that he had come from. He had to get as far away from Hinata as he could as fast as he could. But what if she used her Byakugan and caught him anyways? That thought filled him with dread as he sprinted back to camp. Before he knew it, the light of their fire was in sight, and he slowed down. He stopped to catch his breath, huffing and puffing. He walked back into camp as normally as he could, determined to not let Sakura catch on to what was happening. If she somehow figured out that he had been looking at Hinata while she was taking a bath, she would kill him, regardless of the fact he had saved her life.

She stared at him from her position near the fire as he walked into sight. Determined to not make eye contact with her, he walked to a dark corner of their camp and laid down.

"What's up with you?" she asked him, concern in her voice.

"_What are you talking about?!_" Naruto quickly asked, panicked.

"You're acting all funny," Sakura continued. "Why are you so tired all of a sudden?"

"I just am, okay?" 

"Why are you acting so defensive? I'm not accusing you of anything."

"_Accusing me of what?!_" Naruto asked, paranoid. Sakura sighed impatiently, apparently getting annoyed with Naruto's odd behavior.

"Forget it," she muttered. She looked around the camp for a minute. "Where's the water container?" she asked grumpily. "I'm dying for a drink, and Hinata hasn't come back yet."

Naruto rolled over and pretended to fall asleep so she would leave him alone. He screwed his eyes shut tightly, and tried to steady his breathing. Sakura continued to mutter complaints, not thinking that Naruto could hear her. Hinata returned about ten minutes later, fully clothed. The two kunoichis talked for several minutes about something Naruto could barely hear, then one of them threw dirt onto the fire to put it out. They sleepily told each other good night, then laid down parallel to each other near Naruto's resting place. They both fell asleep, and quiet descended.

Naruto breathed out a sigh of relief. She hadn't caught him. Still, the vivid memory of her bathing danced around in his head for hours, and it was a while before he finally fell asleep.

88888888

"Hey you guys," Naruto said over breakfast the next morning. "I've got an idea that might help us get the last scroll we need."

Their breakfast was comprised solely of cooked fish, but Hinata didn't mind. She really wasn't very hungry, as if she were recovering from a bad cold. Thankfully, last night hadn't been plagued by bizarre dreams, and she had been able to rest easily. Taking a refreshing bath had helped with that, as she no longer felt so sticky and disgusting. She remembered hearing something as she made her way out of the water, but she quickly took it to just be some sort of animal and forgot about it.

"What's your idea?" Sakura asked.

"All of the teams have to head for the central tower when they're done, right?" he asked rhetorically, his mouth full of fish. "Well, I figured that a bunch of teams will be heading there, and this late in the stage most of the good teams will be done. Only the really weak ones will be left… except for us, I mean," he said, laughing nervously. "I think we can go to the tower and wait for someone else to come along. They'll probably have just fought to get their second scroll, and be really tired. We can defeat 'em no problem, and take the scroll we need for ourselves. Then we win!" He flashed a wide grin.

"I guess that makes sense…" Sakura said slowly, thinking about it. "I like it. What do you think, Hinata?" Hinata was surprised that she was being asked.

"I… I think it's a great idea," she said, surprised that anyone had bothered to ask her.

"It's decided then!" Naruto exclaimed happily. "Let's go!" They finished their breakfasts and hustled towards the central tower, leaping through the forest at great speed.

After almost half an hour of travelling, the tower lay within sight. The morning sun shone down on it, and Team 7 stared at it in awe.

"Well, here we are," Naruto said excitedly. "Let's find a good place to ambush someone else."

They leaped up to hide in the treetops, concealed in the shadows and looking down on the ground below. It was hard to judge just how likely they were to get a good shot at an ambush. The tower was a circle after all, and they could only watch over a small portion of it. For all they knew, another team was getting to the tower around the bend and out of their sight.

"Hey, Hinata!" Naruto called to her from his branch in a low voice. "Use your Byakugan!"

"Right," she responded. She activated her bloodline limit, and her vision was greatly enhanced, allowing her to see much farther and through obstructions. She continued watching, but nothing turned up. After several minutes, she deactivated it. "I can't see anyone coming," she told Naruto.

He frowned. "We'll just have to keep on checking every now and then," he replied confidently. "Someone will come along eventually. It's a good thing we got here so early, 'cause now we can wait here al day."

"Oh boy," Sakura muttered under her breath. For the next several hours, they had nothing to do but wait. The sun rose to its highest point in the sky and began to set down again, beginning the afternoon. Hinata regularly checked their surroundings with her Byakugan, and Naruto would make an encouraging comment every time she turned up with nothing.

By her estimates, it was three o'clock when her Byakugan finally turned up something. It was a typical three-man team heading in their general direction. As soon as she alerted her teammates, Naruto whooped in delight and Sakura sighed in relief.

"Keep a close eye on them!" Naruto told her. "We'll be ready when they reach us!"

As Hinata watched them get closer and closer, she felt a strange sensation of apprehension fill her. Their last fight hadn't turned out so good. Finally, the rival team got close enough to them that they were about to enter her normal field of vision. She deactivated her Byakugan.

"They'll get here in a minute," she said. "Are we ready for them?"

"You bet we are!" Naruto and Sakura had pulled out handfuls of kunais and stuck them inbetween their fingers, were ready to throw them. Hinata reached for her own weapons pouch, determined to help as much as she could.

The rival Genin suddenly emerged from the darkness of the trees, and were now visible to everyone. They all wore rubber suits and had breathing masks on their faces.

"I recognize that guy!" Naruto said angrily. "He's the one that tried to sneak up on me!" The Rain Genin landed on the ground and walked up to the tower, getting almost directly underneath Team 7.

"Well, here we are," said their leader, unknowing that Naruto had said the exact same thing when they had arrived earlier.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" asked one of the others. "What if no one comes along?"

"Relax, someone _has_ to come along. And when they do, we'll just hit them with a genjutsu and take their scroll. It's foolproof."

"Ready…" Naruto whispered, rearing his arms back. Sakura did the same, and Hinata quickly pulled out some shurikens of her own. "Aim…" Hinata set her sights on two different targets, thus ensuring that all of them would get hit at least once. "Fire!"

Roughly a dozen weapons rained down on the enemy Genin, and most of them hit. They screamed in surprise and pain, and Team 7 leaped down from their hiding positions in the tree. The leader, who had a kunai stuck in his arm, took one look at Naruto before his eyes widened in horror. He seemed to have remembered his previous disastrous encounter with the blonde.

"Run!" he commanded, terror in his voice. He turned around and leaped in the opposite direction as Naruto gave pursuit, and the other Rain Genin tried to flee as well. Hinata went after one who was running considerably slower, as he had a kunai imbedded in his thigh.

She tackled him to the ground as he cried out and struggled, then knocked him out. Sakura brought her target down as well, knocking him out with a single well-placed punch.

"Let's search them," the pink-haired kunoichi said, and Hinata nodded her head. They both patted down their unconscious enemies, but found no scrolls. "Oh well," Sakura said. "Unless they already lost another fight, then the last guy will have the scroll and Naruto will get it."

Hinata couldn't help but notice the confidence Sakura had in him. She hadn't been like that before. She had always used to doubt and ridicule him, but it seemed like she now considered him at least an equal, if not a superior.

"These guys were really easy to take down," Hinata commented. "I wonder why."

"They're the genjutsu type, probably," Sakura said. "Did you listen to what their plan was? They were planning on using a genjutsu to trap their enemies. If they were a taijutsu group or something, then they would have been planning on jumping down on the heads of their enemies for a quick knock out. Genjutsu specialists tend to have weak skills in any other area."

"I guess that makes sense," Hinata said. The two waited patiently for Naruto to return, and neither of them seemed to be worrying that he might have gotten into trouble. Sure enough, Naruto emerged from some bushes, a wide grin on his face. A scroll was in his hand, and he waved it in the air so they could see it.

"We did it!" he said happily. "We really did it! We passed the second stage!"

"That's the scroll we need?" Sakura asked.

"Yup!" He tossed it to her, and she caught it. She pulled out their other scroll, and held them together.

"We really did it," she murmured.

"That's right we did!" Naruto beamed. The three stood in silence for a moment, but it was a good silence. They had worked hard and been through a lot to get here. They didn't just get here by luck or chance, they deserved to be here.

"Now come on," Naruto continued. "Let's get inside this tower and start the last stage. We're this much closer to becoming Chunin!"

He took the lead, and they reached the walls of the tower. Evenly spaced, there were sets of double doors every few yards. There were paper seals on them, binding them closed. Confidently, Naruto walked up to a set of doors and opened them, tearing the seal in half. "Third stage, here we come!" he exclaimed.

He strutted inside, and his two teammates quickly followed.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Wow, Brazil is big!"

- George W. Bush, upon seeing a map of South America


	20. The Preliminaries Begin

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 20: The Preliminaries Begin_

Team 7 walked into a large, bare room. It was dirty and smelled as if no one had entered it in a very long time. There were balconies on either side of the room, and a large poster with text dominated the wall in front of them.

"There's no one here…" Naruto said. He had been expecting a room packed with Genin who had survived the second stage and were waiting for the final test to begin. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Maybe that poster's meant for us," Sakura suggested. The three Genin looked up at it and read the message.

"_If qualities of Heaven_

_are your desire,_

_acquire wisdom and_

_knowledge to take your mind higher._

_If Earthly abilities are what you lack,_

_train your body in the fields and prepare_

_to attack._

_When both Heaven and Earth _

_are opened together,_

_the path of peril will _

_revert to the righteous path forever._

_This '?' is the secret way…_

…_that guides us on from this place today._"

_- The Third Hokage_

"I don't get it," said Naruto, confused. "And what's up with the blank space?"

"It must be talking about the scrolls," suggested Sakura. "We have an Earth Scroll and a Heaven Scroll, right?"

"Then… it's time to open them?" asked Hinata.

"Anko did say that we only couldn't open them if we hadn't reached the tower…" said Naruto. Sakura pulled out the two scrolls, and her two teammates looked at them cautiously. For all they knew, the scrolls were meant to automatically activate something as soon as they entered the tower.

"Well… should we open them?" asked Sakura unsurely.

"We might as well," said Naruto. "They can't accuse us of breaking the rules if we made it to the tower."

"I guess you're right," said Sakura. She handed one of the scrolls to Naruto and kept one for herself. They both pinched the corners of the folded paper and prepared to unfurl them. Looking at each other nervously, they nodded their heads and ripped the scrolls open.

Inside the scrolls were identical spirals of strange symbols, in the center of which lay the symbol meaning "human."

"What is this?" asked Naruto. It felt anticlimactic without anything blowing up in their faces. There were no answers to the poster and no explanations as to what they were in for next. Had the entire "open the scrolls at your own peril" thing been a scare tactic? The scrolls suddenly began to emit wisps of white smoke, which quickly became thicker. The paper began to bulge in the middle.

"It's a Summoning Jutsu!" Sakura said, and threw her scroll across the room. Naruto quickly did the same, and it landed next to Sakura's. The white smoke got even thicker as it rose up from the ground, and an obscure dark shape took form in the center. Naruto prepared himself for a fight, glaring at the mysterious newcomer. The smoke began to disperse, and revealed the identity of the hidden person.

"Wha−" Sakura looked on, shocked.

"Iruka-sensei!" cried out Naruto happily.

"Hey kids," greeted the Chunin, his hands folded across his chest. "Been a long time, hasn't it?"

"I don't understand what's going on…" murmured Hinata.

"What are you doing here?" asked Sakura.

"The Summoning Jutsu was designed so that we Chunin would be able to greet the Genin applicants who made it through the Forest of Death," Iruka explained. "It's just good luck that I got to be the messenger for you guys!"

"Messenger?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling out a pocketwatch. "It looks like you guys beat the deadline by about half a day. Nice job, I suppose. I would take you out for Ichiraku's, but−"

"Yes!" Naruto cried, flinging himself at Iruka and hugging him. "Yes! Yes!"

"Let me finish!" said Iruka, and Naruto let go of him. "You guys won't be allowed to leave the central tower quite yet, so I _can't_ take you."

"What's up with that poster?" asked Sakura, pointing at it. "What's it supposed to mean?"

"It's the directive set down by the Third Hokage for all Chunin," explained Iruka. "In the text, 'Heaven' represents the human mind, while 'Earth' represents the human body. 'If qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom and knowledge to take your mind higher.' In other words, if your weakness is your mind, you need to work hard to increase your knowledge. Conversely, if 'Earthly abilities are what you lack,' then you need to train your body. You know, eat your green vegetables, just like your… like everyone says."

Iruka had almost said 'just like your mother told you,' but he stopped himself when he remembered that Sakura was the only member of Team 7 who had a mother. He quickly continued, trying to cover up his near-mistake.

"Once you achieve the qualities of Heaven and Earth, then you'll have become the best ninja you can be. No mission will be a wrong path for you."

"What's the blank space supposed to be?" asked Sakura. That had been puzzling her most of all.

"The word that goes there is the description of what a Chunin should be," said Iruka. He held up one of the open scrolls, which now had the "human" symbol missing. "The symbol that used to fill up this scroll is what fills in the missing blank. It translates to 'person,' or 'all people.'" He rolled up the scroll and put it away. "The Forest of Death was meant to test your potential skills as a Chunin. Basically, if you didn't have at least moderate achievements in both Heaven and Earth, then you wouldn't pass and would be weeded out. You all passed with flying colors. Remember, Chunin are commanders. We can't have any incompetent leaders running around, or they'll get everyone under their command killed. Genin can only graduate to Chunin rank by using a combination of strength and intelligence. Keep the directive foremost in your mind as you move ahead to the next test. I can't stress it enough." He fell silent for a moment. "Well… that's it. That's the entire message. You pass. But about the third test… don't overdo things. Especially you, Naruto."

"Don't worry about me!" exclaimed Naruto. "I got this headband because I'm a ninja! That's proof enough that I know what I'm doing!"

Iruka managed a small smile. "I guess you're right," he said. He had a feeling that the team just might go the whole way and become Chunin after all.

88888888

The Genin who passed the second test, twenty-one in all, were standing in the center of a very large room. The Hokage and the Jonin senseis stood at the front of the room before them. Behind them was a statue that showed two hands folded together, the typical gesture made when a ninja concentrated his chakra.

Remarkably, the entire Rookie 9 had made it through the Forest of Death. The Sound and Sand teams had also passed, along with Kabuto's team and Team Guy.

"Congratulations to all of you for passing the second test," the Third Hokage told them. His rumbling voice carried throughout the entire room. The Genin began to whisper among themselves, excited at passing and making it so far.

"Lord Hokage is about to explain the third test," said Anko. "So shut up and pay attention!" She had dark circles under her eyes and looked considerably less energetic than when she had instructed them about the second stage. One would think she had gotten into a fight herself.

"The third and final test is imminent," Sarutobi said. "But before I go into the specifics of it, there's one thing that all of you should be aware of. It pertains to the underlying nature of the Chunin Exam, and the politics behind it." He puffed on his pipe before continuing. "First, let me ask you: What do you suppose is the reason for an examination of this nature to be conducted by nations in a mutual alliance?"

The Genin looked on at him questioningly. What was he suggesting?

"'To promote friendship among allied nations and raise the level and standards of their shinobi,'" he said, rehearsing what sounded like something from their application forms. "You need to see through the politically correct phrases and see what is truly happening here. This series of so-called exams is actually a miniature war between all of the allied countries."

"What do you mean?" called out Tenten, bewildered.

"If one were to consult a map, and check the recent history of our world, it would be swiftly apparent that our alliance is merely a temporary and mutually beneficial agreement between a group of nations connected and forced together because of their geography. In the past, war was constantly waged on a grand scale by vast armies, tearing the world apart. Empires were forged and summarily crushed, and countless lives were lost. In war, shinobi are the elite, and lead the frontlines. In time, the quality of ninjas were seen to represent the strength of their countries, even though shinobi make up, at best, one percent of their country's entire military. When the constant wars finally ended, the idea of the Chunin Exam was born."

"How does the selection of choosing Genin to become Chunin have anything to do with war?" asked Shikamaru.

"Ninjas and their hidden villages create a very unique situation for shinobi nations," Sarutobi said. "As you obviously know, ninjas are given contracts to take on special missions for anyone with the money to pay up. The money earned increases the village's wealth, and in turn, their country's wealth and status. The country's armies of non-shinobi soldiers do not take special missions from contractors. In peacetime, they are typically only used in a state of emergency or terrible disaster where a ninja would be completely out of his league. All the shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village could not be expected to help the rescue effort of large city ravaged by a hurricane or earthquake. They could not be expected to enforce martial law in a large city, either. In disasters such as those, the government mobilizes the troops. Ninjas are practically useless in such large operations. In the event of a war, ninjas play a significantly larger part, leading non-shinobi troops into battle or conducting critical missions behind enemy lines.

"And as I previously stated, ninjas are commonly seen as representing the strength of a country. If a country has a village with nothing but weak ninja, then it provides a fair indication of the state of the rest of its military. The Chunin Exam was developed primarily as an idea to find the weakest of the shinobi nations and single them out; a sort of pecking order, if you will. Understanding the danger of potentially broadcasting their weakness, many nations simply refused to compete, determined to keep up the façade of great strength. By now, only nations with well-established reputations as formidable powers dare to compete."

"So… we're nothing but pawns on display?" inquired Shikamaru.

"Essentially," agreed the Hokage. "When a country's ninjas prove their worth in the Chunin Exam, commissions are sent to that particular hidden village more often, given the impression that they have the skills to get any job done. The village will overflow with riches, increasing the nation's total wealth. The international opinion of the nation will unanimously be one of respect. The country can then use its influence to potentially coerce other nations into trade agreements, thus increasing its wealth even further. It is a perpetual circle of ever-increasing power."

"So we're just here to fight and die to increase our country's power?!" asked Kiba, outraged. "And if we become Chunin, then we fight to increase its power even more?!"

"Fighting and dying for their country is a soldier's lot in life," said Sarutobi. "That is something you should have expected the moment you became a ninja. If you have a problem with that, you can always quit." He sighed and adjusted his headdress, and Kiba quieted down. "Genin compete in an arena, pitted against each other in an elimination-style tournament. Leaders and representatives from other nations watch the fights and decide for themselves who is truly worthy of becoming a Chunin. As they decide who is worthy of the rank, they simultaneously figure out a nation's strength. Of course, with so many variables to consider, it is entirely possible that they will entirely underestimate a country's power, or even overestimate it. After all, it is Genin competing, not Jonin. And basing your judgements on such a tiny fraction of a nation's military is bound to lead to mistakes in estimating. Nevertheless, the Chunin Exam is conducted regularly with the premise that they can easily reveal and broadcast a country's power."

"But what about fostering friendly relations?" objected Tenten. "Isn't that one of the goals of the Chunin Exam?"

"To preserve the balance of power is the meaning of fostering friendly relations between nations. As I said, you must see through the implied message and find the truth underneath. If all countries are kept in a roughly equal position, it prevents any one nation from getting aggressive. Let me reiterate before the final stage commences: You are all taking far more than a normal test. You risk not only your dreams in this Exam. In the most extreme example, proving yourself to be incompetent can potentially lead to war. It's a grim truth, but a truth nonetheless."

The Genin stood in stunned silence before him. In other words, in the worst case scenario, losing in the Chunin Exam would cause the deaths of thousands of people.

"Will you please just get to the third test?" asked Gaara unemotionally. He was imperturbed by the vast importance of the Exam he was competing in.

"As you wish…" said the Hokage, puffing on his pipe. A Jonin suddenly moved from his position behind the Hokage and reappeared in front of Sarutobi, bowing before him.

"Excuse my interruption Lord Hokage," he said in a low voice. "But if you don't mind, I'll take it from here, being the instructor for the third stage."

"Go ahead," said Sarutobi, looking down at him. The Jonin nodded his head and coughed, then stood up and turned to face the Genin.

"I am Hayate Gekko," he introduced himself. "Erm, before we start the exam−_koff_−I need to explain something to you all." He seemed very subdued, to the point that it almost appeared he'd rather have been anywhere else at the moment. He had dark circles under his eyes, as if he were an insomniac, and he coughed constantly. He seemed to be a very sickly person.

"You see," he continued, "there are preliminaries that must be conducted−_koff_−before we pass you on to the third test."

"Preliminaries?" asked Sakura, confused. Hayate nodded his head.

"You see, to put it simply, there are too many of you left," he said, and coughed. "It's not as if the first two stages weren't grueling enough, it's just that−_koff_−there will be an audience of honored guests who will observe your fights. Under the rules of the Chunin Exam, preliminaries can be held at any stage where deemed necessary to decrease the number of applicants. For the third and−_koff_−final stage, things need to be nice and speedy. Having twenty-one applicants will cause a big, slow, and potentially boring competition, especially if many of them are revealed to possess few real combat skills. The preliminaries will eliminate the weaker half of the Genin present, and ensure that the audience will not be forced to endure−_koff_−an uninteresting tournament. I advise that anyone who doesn't feel like they're up to fighting should quit, because the preliminaries start… right now."

"Now?!" Kiba sounded furious. "We don't even get any time to rest?!"

Kabuto suddenly raised up his hand, to everyone's surprise. "You got me," he said. "I'm wiped. I can't start fighting."

"Kabuto Yakushi…" confirmed Hayate, looking down at his clipboard. He coughed, then looked back up. "Okay, you can go. I should add that as of now, you're fighting as individuals. You can quit without worrying about taking your entire team down with you."

Kabuto started walking out of the room, heading for the exit. Naruto looked at him and shrugged. Maybe this was the reason why Kabuto had yet to pass the Chunin Exam; he quit every time. Anko looked at her own clipboard and began talking to the Hokage, though he couldn't hear what they were saying. The Sound Jonin, a man with pale skin, slanted eyes, and dark hair, seemed to have his eyes focused on Kabuto, though Naruto couldn't figure out why. Kabuto talked briefly with one of his teammates as he left, then headed out the doors. No one else volunteered to quit.

"Uh, I guess that's it then," Hayate said after a minute of waiting. "I guess that we'll start the preliminaries now." One of the Jonin behind him cleared his throat, and Hayate swiftly turned around to look. Naruto started looking from face to face, trying to figure out which one had been trying to get Hayate's attention. He finally saw Kakashi, who gave Hayate a brief nod. Confused, Naruto watched as the instructor turned back to the competing Genin. Hayate looked down at his clipboard. "Umm, right. It is the express wish of the Third Hokage that Sasuke Uchiha, Neji Hyuga, and Hinata Hyuga all report to the medical wing as soon as their matches are over, regardless of whether they win or lose. That is all."

Naruto looked over at Hinata, confused. What was going on? She had a horrified look on her face. She must not have known what was going on, either. Hayate coughed and continued with his explanation of the preliminaries.

"The matches will be randomly chosen. As there are twenty applicants now remaining, there will be a total of ten matches. _Koff_. The matches will end when one combatant is either dead or unconscious, or admits defeat. If we deem it necessary, we will step in and end a match if we feel there is already a clear winner. The matches will be−_koff_−decided by this electronic scoreboard."

With a rumbling noise, a stone panel behind the stone statue parted and revealed a blank screen behind it.

"The screen will now randomly select two combatants. So, umm, not to rush you or anything, but we're starting now. Let's see who the screen picks…"

The screen began to flash, and names flew by in random combinations. The Genin all looked on in apprehension. Two names suddenly came to an abrupt halt, and all of the Genin saw who would be competing first.

**Sasuke Uchiha vs. Yoroi Akado**

"Well well," Naruto muttered, looking up at the screen. "If it isn't the pretty boy up first." There was silence for moment as eighteen Genin registered that they didn't have to fight yet, and two realized that they had to go first.

"Umm, right," said Hayate. "Will the two candidates who have been selected please step forward? Everyone−_koff_−else is to wait on the balcony for their own fight to start."

The eighteen Genin shuffled up the stairs on either side of the room, and looked down upon the arena below. The Jonin all left their positions and moved to stand on the balcony as well. Mere chance brought Team 7 and Team Guy to stand next to each other, and their senseis stood behind them. Sasuke and Yoroi stood opposing each other at the center of the arena, and Hayate stood a few feet away from them.

"Are there any objections to this fight?" Hayate asked.

"None," said Yoroi.

"I'm fine here," stated Sasuke. Hayate coughed and raised one of his hands in the air slightly.

"Then, let the first match… begin," he said, slashing his hand down.

"Go Sasuke!" screamed Ino from across the room. "Beat him up! I know you can do it!"

Sakura, prompted by her rival, began cheering as well. "You're the best, Sasuke!" she called. The Uchiha made no indication that he could hear his fanclub, instead crouching low in preparation for his fight. His indifference had no effect on the enthusiasm of the two girls; they only cheered louder, trying to outdo each other.

Naruto happened to catch Hinata's gaze. He grinned and rolled his eyes, and she giggled. For some reason, he didn't get mad anymore when Sakura started cheering for Sasuke. As bizarre as it was, he simply didn't care.

The sudden movement of the two combatants below brought his attention back to the fight. Yoroi threw a handful of shurikens at Sasuke, who quickly deflected them with a kunai. The shurikens went flying back towards Yoroi, who sidestepped them and prepared to launch a new attack on Sasuke.

Sasuke ran forward, but suddenly stopped and stumbled, wincing in agony and holding onto his neck as if it were in great pain. Completely immobilized, his knees buckled out from under him and he fell to the ground. Sakura and Ino abruptly stopped cheering at this, and many of the Rookie 9 looked down at him in horror. What was happening?

Yoroi wasted no time in taking advantage of Sasuke's dilemma. He appeared in front of the paralyzed boy, who was still struggling to stand, and delivered a crushing roundhouse kick to his face. Sasuke let out a cry of pain and rolled across the floor. Yoroi pounced on him, forcefully grabbing onto Sasuke's shirt as he struggled against his powerful grip. Yoroi's hand began to glow with chakra, utilizing some strange jutsu.

Sasuke's struggling gradually became weaker under Yoroi's attack. It seemed as though his energy was being drained, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. _Heh,_ _looks like this match is over…_

Sasuke suddenly grabbed onto the joint of Yoroi's wrist with both his hands, apparently using the very last of his strength to do so. He forcefully twisted the wrist, and Yoroi screamed in pain as a distinct popping noise echoed throughout the room. Naruto couldn't help but wince and turn his gaze away slightly.

Yoroi's jutsu stopped, and he released Sasuke. He held onto his snapped wrist with his good hand, stumbling backwards and away from Sasuke. Sasuke forced himself to stand up, groaning. He spat blood onto the ground, and looked up at his opponent. The two seemed to be on roughly even terms now, with both of them sustaining a major hindrance on their ability to fight.

Naruto silently conceded that Sasuke was better than he had given him credit for.

The two combatants glared at each other, preparing themselves to re-enter the fight. Yoroi's injured wrist hung limp at his side, and he gripped a kunai in his good hand. Sasuke was huffing and puffing, and also held a kunai. For almost a full minute the two simply stared at each other, not willing to expend their energy by taking the offensive.

Without warning, Sasuke suddenly threw himself at Yoroi, swinging at him with his kunai. With only one good hand, Yoroi was virtually incapable of making a counter-attack to Sasuke's assault. All he could do was constantly deflect Sasuke's many swipes, lunges, and jabs with his own kunai and hope for an opening. That didn't take very long.

Sasuke was running out of energy from keeping up such a fierce attack, and fast. His numerous attacks were coming slower and weaker, and the tables were gradually turning in Yoroi's favor once more. If this kept up, then all he would have to do was block all of Sasuke's attacks until the boy became too exhausted to even move.

Sasuke appeared to have realized this as well. He began concentrating his attacks on the same side as Yoroi's injured wrist, forcing his opponent to work harder and harder to defend himself. Suddenly, to everyone's puzzlement, Yoroi raised his bad arm to block against Sasuke's attacks, seemingly to protect his vulnerable torso in the event that he couldn't deflect one of Sasuke's swipes. That strategy turned out to be a huge folly; keeping one arm so close to his body hindered his movement, and Sasuke managed to get past his defenses and plunge his kunai into Yoroi's arm. The blade was imbedded deep into the flesh and irretrievable.

Sasuke let out a triumphant cry, but it appeared that he had started celebrating too early. He was completely undefended now that he had no kunai, and Yoroi suddenly slammed his good fist into Sasuke's face. As the boy went flying, Naruto suddenly understood. Yoroi had _wanted_ Sasuke to stab his bad arm. In doing so, he would lose his only means of attack and defense. That single kunai had simultaneously served as both Sasuke's sword and shield, and now it was lost to him.

Blood dripped down from Yoroi's wound and fell to the floor, forming a small red puddle at his feet. Sasuke lay a few yards away from him, and had struggled to get into a sitting position. Groaning, he planted one of his hands on the floor to support him as he tried to stand again. His other hand was reaching for his weapons pouch, presumably to get another kunai.

Yoroi, however, was not about to let that happen. He raised his own blade and charged at Sasuke, who appeared incapable of moving out of the way. Naruto couldn't see any way that he could get out of this one.

_It looks like it really is over this time…_

In the instant before Yoroi reached him, Sasuke suddenly rolled out of the way. Before Yoroi could react or change direction, Sasuke stuck out one of his legs. Yoroi clumsily tripped right over it, and fell to the ground. He landed right on his injured arm. The kunai was shoved even deeper into his arm, and he screamed in agony. Sasuke was back on his feet in a moment, and was immediately on top of Yoroi. He slammed his fist down on Yoroi's face, and his head bounced off the ground as he cried out. Sasuke held another kunai at his opponent's throat, and kept his other hand reared up, ready to deliver another punch if he had to. Yoroi groaned, but didn't move. It looked like his temple had hit the floor, and blood was beginning to pool underneath him. Sasuke remained in his position, ready to attack at any moment.

"This match is over," said Hayate. "The winner is Sasuke Uchiha, and he gets to pass on to the final stage…"

Sakura and Ino burst into cheering again, and Sasuke stood up from his kneeling position. He looked exhausted, and he rubbed his neck as if it were sore. Yoroi hadn't hit his neck, though… And what had happened at the start of the match? Maybe Sasuke just had a cramp or something.

Two medics walked into the arena, carrying a stretcher. They wore white uniforms with red crosses on them, and looked like they were trained in medical ninjutsu. They loaded Yoroi onto the stretcher and prepared to carry him away.

"You better come with us," one of the medics said to Sasuke. "The other two will come along once their matches are over." Sasuke nodded, and left the arena with them. To Naruto's confusion, Kurenai left as well, following them out. Didn't she want to see how her other Genin fared?

"Well, let's get the next match going," Hayate said, coughing. "So, umm, if we could get that board choosing names again…"

The screen, apparently, wasn't operated by him. Someone else was in control, and got it started a few moments later. Names once again started flashing by in random combinations, and Naruto looked at it eagerly. He wanted to hurry up and start his own fight. Now that Sasuke had won, he wanted to win his own match as well. The board finally stopped switching names, choosing a random pair of combatants to fight.

**Abumi Zaku vs. Shikamaru Nara**

Feeling disappointed, Naruto struggled to recall who Abumi Zaku was. He remembered seeing him on Kabuto's cards; he was one of the Sound Genin. Both Zaku and Shikamaru got down from the balcony and walked to the center of the arena, where Hayate stood waiting. Once they stood facing each other, Zaku glared fiercely at Shikamaru, as if they were mortal enemies. Shikamaru looked bored and uncaring. Hayate raised his hand in the air like before.

"Uh, any objections?" he suddenly remembered to ask.

"No way!" growled Zaku.

"I guess not…" said Shikamaru unenthusiastically. He didn't sound particularly afraid of Zaku; it seemed like he just thought it was a pain in the ass to fight him.

"Right," said Hayate. "Let the second match… begin." He slashed his hand down and took a step back.

Nothing happened. Zaku glared at Shikamaru and crouched low, ready to move out of the way of any sudden attack. Shikamaru looked at him but didn't move into any sort of stance. He was completely unprepared to do anything. No weapons, no stance… no motivation.

Shikamaru stretched out his arms (causing Zaku to jump slightly) and brought them back to lock fingers behind his head. He stared at Zaku with a dull disinterest, clearly unwilling to fight. Zaku stared back at him, eyes narrowed suspiciously. They stared at each other for at least a minute, not moving. Zaku seemed to be under the impression that Shikamaru had a sinister motive for not attacking yet, and didn't dare to make himself vulnerable. The rest of the Rookie 9 present, however, knew better.

After another minute of standing off (if one could call it that), Shikamaru sighed and lowered his hands.

"Let's just get this over with…" he muttered, and reached for some shurikens. Zaku whipped his hands into his own weapons pouch, pulling out some shurikens of his own. Shikamaru lazily hurled his shurikens at Zaku, who quickly threw his own as well. The weapons met each other in midair and bounced away with clinking noises, harmlessly falling to the ground.

Instead of lazily waiting for Zaku to do some sort of counter-attack, Shikamaru took out some more shurikens and began throwing them. Instead of aiming for Zaku's body, he cleverly threw them at his legs and feet, where they were next to impossible to block or deflect. Zaku had no choice but to begin hopping backwards and away from the shurikens, gradually advancing backwards towards the wall behind him.

Shikamaru began mixing up his pattern. Instead of constantly throwing all of his shurikens at Zaku's feet, he began throwing a few of them towards his upper body and face. These took Zaku by surprise, and he bent over backwards to dodge them. Shikamaru would then continue throwing shurikens at his feet, making him jump back again.

Zaku would try to throw some weapons of his own, but Shikamaru had increased his pace so that he didn't have enough time to do anything more than duck and dodge. Eventually, Zaku tried to jump backwards once more, but instead he bumped into the wall behind him. His collision distracted him, as he turned his head to see what he had hit.

"Now I've got you," Shikamaru said triumphantly. Before his opponent could jump or roll out of the way, he threw handfuls of shurikens, aiming them directly at his chest. Zaku didn't stand a chance of reaching into his weapons pouch in time to pull out anything to deflect the incoming shurikens. It looked pretty hopeless; he didn't appear to have any way out of getting impaled. He quickly raised both of his arms up, palms facing Shikamaru. It was then that Naruto noticed the strange metal tubes in his hands. What were they for?

His question was answered when what appeared to be some sort of violent wind shot out from his palms and sent the shurikens flying in different directions. It was the strangest jutsu Naruto had ever seen, and it looked like you needed those metal tubes in order to perform it. What kind of people were these Sound ninjas? Zaku left his position near the wall and charged at his opponent.

Shikamaru, unfazed, rapidly pulled out two handfuls of shurikens and threw them at Zaku. The Sound Genin halted and repeated his jutsu, except on a larger scale to repel the extra weapons heading in his direction.

"I thought you had me!" sneered Zaku. "What happened, huh?" Before Shikamaru could reach for his weapons pouch again, Zaku grabbed some shurikens of his own and hurled them at him. Shikamaru cursed and rolled out of the way, and the shurikens flew over his head. Even as he was rolling, he stuck his hand back into his weapons pouch. As soon as he bounced back onto his feet he threw a single kunai at Zaku. Instead of blowing it out of the way, Zaku snatched it out of the air before it could hit him and held it up mockingly.

"Is that the best you can do?" he sneered again. He threw it back at Shikamaru, who had simply been staring at him. Shikamaru sidestepped it and pulled out another kunai. He threw it at Zaku, but he didn't bother aiming for his feet or anything sneaky. Naruto wondered why, since Shikamaru would have to do some serious thinking to get himself out of this one.

Zaku caught it yet again, gripping its handle and laughing. "You're an awfully slow learner, aren't you?" he asked mockingly. He reared his arm back to throw it back at its original owner, but Shikamaru had already begun moving. He pulled out three shurikens and threw them at Zaku as he ran, giving each one a spin as they flew at him. Their trajectory was brilliant; they curved outward in the air in separate directions before homing in on Zaku, who couldn't simply blow them away due to their multiple locations. He snarled and barely deflected them in time with Shikamaru's kunai, forced to quickly sweep his arm in multiple directions to get all three of them.

He turned to look at Shikamaru, who had moved to stand at Zaku's side; he held one last kunai in his hand. Zaku smirked and raised his free hand so that his palm faced Shikamaru.

"Any more tricks up your sleeve?"

There was a glint in Shikamaru's eyes as he threw his last kunai. Zaku quickly twirled in place to get his body out of its way, then stuck out his arm to swipe it out of the air. Holding kunais in both hands, he turned back around to face Shikamaru, crossing his arms menacingly as he prepared to throw them back at him. Shikamaru had his arms folded in what appeared to be some form of concentrating his chakra, a smile on his face. A shadow, darker than any surrounding shade, rapidly extended out from under Shimakaru and reached Zaku.

Zaku's sneer disappeared, and was replaced by a look of shock. "What the…" His face went red and contorted, as if he were concentrating on doing something but couldn't do it. "I can't move!" he yelled furiously.

"The Shadow Possession Jutsu, of course," Kakashi murmured behind Naruto. "Very clever."

"People with huge egos are so predictable…" Shikamaru muttered. He extended his arms so that they were parallel to the ground, and Zaku mimicked him as he screamed in fury. Shikamaru calmly stuck his fingers out, opening his hands wide. Zaku did the same, releasing the kunais, and they fell to the ground with a clatter.

"You were nice enough to hold those for me," Shikamaru said. "So nice, that you decided to sacrifice using your weird jutsu just so you could do it. How selfless of you." Zaku glared at him so fiercely that Naruto could feel his fury all the way from where he stood. "As soon as you started flashing your freakshow powers around, you figured that the match was already as good as won. So you decided show off by beating me while using my own weapons against me and exerting as little effort as possible. You had no idea that you were playing into my hands the entire time. And to think, if you had just started blowing me around as soon as the match started you really would have won…"

He yawned and raised his hand to his mouth. Zaku was forced to repeat the motion. "And you wouldn't shut up!" Shikamaru continued, annoyance in his voice. "The entire match, all you did was talk, talk, talk. You need to learn to shut up and think about how to win a match, not mock your opponent. Then maybe you'd win a battle…" He reached into his weapons pouch. Zaku, whose pouch was located in a different place, wound up grasping empty air. "Now, let's _really_ get this over with."

Shikamaru reared his arm back, a single shuriken in his fingers. Zaku mimicked him, a look of horror on his face. Shikamaru threw the shuriken, and it flew straight for Zaku's face. The Sound Genin winced and screwed his eyes shut, anticipating death.

The shuriken grazed his ear, and he howled in pain as blood splattered all over his face. Being under Shikamaru's control, he couldn't reach up and grab it. Shikamaru held up another shuriken threateningly, and Zaku was left looking like he was pinching thin air.

"This one won't miss," Shikamaru warned. He had purposely missed hitting Zaku's neck. Shikamaru turned to look at Hayate and twirled the shuriken in between his fingers. The message was clear: if the match wasn't ended now, Zaku would die.

The proctor remained silent for a moment, apparently trying to judge the situation. Finally, he coughed and slowly raised his hand to point at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru Nara is the winner on technicality," he stated. "He gets to pass on to the final stage. This match is over."

Shikamaru sighed, relieved, and pocketed his shuriken. He began calmly walking up the stairs to get back to his team, while Zaku furiously stomped back up the stairs to rejoin his own team. He hadn't taken the loss very well. Hayate coughed and looked back up at the screen.

"Next match, please."

Names began flying past in combinations, and all the Genin looked up apprehensively to see who would have to fight next.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"Don't worry, your money's going to a good cause: Me!"

- GTA: San Andreas


	21. Of Most Distinguished Blood

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 21: Of Most Distinguished Blood_

All of the Genin looked up at the electronic screen, which had finally selected two applicants to fight next.

**Kankuro vs. Misumi Tsurugi**

Upon seeing the names, Naruto slammed his fist on the rail in front of him in frustration. He had wanted to fight Kankuro himself, as a final payback for what he had done to Konohamaru. He sighed and looked down to observe the match as the two selected combatants walked towards each other.

Naruto noted that this was the final member of Kabuto's team. So far, they had turned out to be quite pathetic, and he wondered how they had made it past the second stage. Kabuto was a quitter, and Yoroi hadn't been able to win a one-sided match in his favor. Naruto wondered if Misumi was any better.

He was also interested in seeing how Kankuro would perform in a real life-or-death battle. If his performance was the same as when he had fought Naruto, his chances weren't looking very good. His own teammate had called him an idiot; that couldn't be a good sign.

"Any objections?" asked Hayate as they reached the center of the arena.

"None," said Misumi and Kankuro in unison. Hayate raised his hand into the air.

"Then let the third match…begin." His hand slashed down, officially starting the battle.

The two ninjas simply stared at each other, similar to the previous match between Zaku and Shikamaru. However, neither of them looked bored. Misumi had his eyes narrowed suspiciously from behind his glasses, while Kankuro looked at him with a smug look on his face.

"I won't underestimate you the way Yoroi did with his battle," Misumi stated. "I'm not going to play around with you. You'd be smart to forfeit before I break you." Kankuro laughed, and removed the wrapped-up thing from his back, setting it on the ground.

"Funny, I was about to tell you the same thing."

Misumi seemed to sense that the object was of strategic importance to Kankuro, and immediately bolted from his standing position to attack his opponent. He didn't pause for a mocking quip, instead rearing his arm back to punch Kankuro.

Kankuro quickly raised his own hand up and blocked the punch, enveloping Misumi's fist with his hand. To his shock, Misumi's hand suddenly broke free, and his entire arm began to wrap around Kankuro's arm like a snake. It appeared that his signature technique was the ability to stretch and bend himself like a vine. Various other limbs rapidly began wrapping around Kankuro's body, immobilizing him. Kankuro dropped his wrapped-up object, and one of Misuri's arms firmly encircled his neck.

"I told you I wasn't playing around," Misumi said. "I could snap your neck like a twig if I felt like it… I'll just keep on squeezing tighter until something cracks, unless you call it quits. The longer you wait to forfeit, the tighter I'll squeeze! And you're running out of time…"

Kankuro tried struggling, but it was useless, and Misumi only constricted even tighter. "Give it up!"

"No way…" Kankuro gave one last ferocious struggle, and a loud crack quickly echoed across the room. Kankuro went limp and his head lolled forward. Misumi had broken his neck, just like he had promised. Hayate looked on at them, a tired look in his eyes. Naruto looked down on them as well, shocked.

He hated Kankuro, but he didn't want him _killed_. Now what was going to happen? Hayate began to raise his hand to point at Misumi, when Kankuro's lifeless body suddenly reanimated. His head swiveled around to face a shocked Misumi, and his face appeared to have cracked in several places. Wooden arms suddenly ripped out from under Kankuro's clothes, extending and wrapping themselves around Misumi's body.

It had been a puppet. At one point or another, Kankuro had somehow traded places with a wooden puppet, leaving Misumi to attack and wrap himself around nothing more than a dummy. The puppet's various limbs encircled Misumi, creating one huge tangled up mess of body parts. The wrapped-up object suddenly unraveled, revealing the real Kankuro hiding underneath. His fingers were manipulating thin strings of chakra, controlling the decoy.

Naruto saw the jutsu and suddenly understood what had happened the day he had fought him. Kankuro hadn't been tickling the air; he'd grabbed onto one of Naruto's feet with a string of chakra and tripped him. The puppet thing, however, was entirely new to him. He vaguely wondered how badly their fight would have escalated if Gaara hadn't intervened.

Misumi violently thrashed and struggled, but it was useless. His bizarre flexibility was of no use here, and he didn't have any chance to replace himself with a dummy.

"You're awfully flexible," Kankuro sneered. "Just imagine how much more flexible you'll be when I break every bone in your body!" He began to tighten the puppet's grip on his opponent, and Misumi screamed in pain. The proctor watched for a moment, waiting to see if anything unexpected would develop, but the Leaf Genin was clearly trapped.

"The match is over," Hayate interrupted in a hurried voice, seeing that Misumi had no tricks up his sleeve that would allow him to escape his predicament. He clearly didn't want to have to deal with a bloodbath. "The winner is Kankuro, and he gets to pass on to the final stage."

Kankuro laughed loudly, and it echoed across the arena. His puppet released Misumi, who quickly regrouped himself and returned to his correct proportions. Humiliated at losing a battle he thought he had won, he slunk back up the stairs, alone. With the rest of his teammates gone, he had no one to watch the rest of the matches with. Kankuro delightedly wrapped his puppet back up and replaced it on his back. He rejoined his team, which was on the balcony opposite Team 7's.

"Jeez," muttered Naruto. "It's just one freak after another, trying to outdo each other in how weird they can get…"

"I had no idea that Kankuro was actually pretty good," Sakura murmured. "What if he had used his puppet against you the day you fought him?" she asked, turning to Naruto.

"I wondered the same thing…"

"You… You fought that boy before before?" asked Hinata in surprise, her eyes wide. "When?"

"It's a long story," Naruto muttered. Remembering the events of that day with distaste, he frowned, fixing his gaze upon the arena below.

"Let's start the fourth match!" Hayate called, and the electronic screen began its routine yet again.

"Well… What happened?" Hinata began to press.

"I don't really feel like talking about it right now," Naruto responded. "How about after we win our matches, okay?"

Hinata turned to Sakura for help. "Were you there?" she asked her teammate. "What happened?"

Sakura looked at Naruto curiously for a moment, surprised by his subdued demeanor. Another chance to brag about how amazing he was, and he wanted to pass it up? Shrugging, she turned to face Hinata, not seeing any harm in recounting the events of the brief fight. "Well, you see, that day you had left—"

"Ah, Sakura, right now isn't a good time to be telling stories," Kakashi cut in.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura, miffed by his sudden interruption. "Why not?"

"Looking at the board might give you a good reason."

With a roll of her eyes, Sakura turned to see who had been selected, wondering what could possibly be so urgent about someone else's match that she couldn't even talk with her teammate. Her impatience was quickly replaced with shock when she read who the selected ninjas were.

**Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka**

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Standing down in the center of the arena, Sakura faced her former best friend and rival, who stood across from her. The two kunoichis glared at each other intensely as they faced off, ready for the match to begin. Hayate stood in the middle.

"Any objections?"

"No," stated Ino fiercely.

"None here," said Sakura with equal fervency.

"Then let the fourth match…begin," commanded Hayate, bringing his hand down.

The two kunoichis continued to glare at each other, unmoving.

"Well, we finally get to see who's better once and for all," Ino said. A smirk was playing at her lips.

"I'll try and go easy on you," Sakura said. Ino's face flushed, and her hand wavered near her weapons pouch.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to, billboard brow?" asked Ino angrily. "I'll kick your ass!"

"You sure like talking tough, don't you?" mocked Sakura. "It must be because you're so insecure." Her hand was gradually moving closer to her own weapons pouch. To her surprise, it was trembling slightly. She was puzzled as to why.

Was it because she was afraid? No, that couldn't be it. Even though she had spent most of her childhood looking up to Ino, it was so long ago it felt like it had occurred in another lifetime. A lot of things had changed since then. She no longer felt ugly and shy, or inferior to Ino, or that she had to rely on her to chase away bullies. That had been six years ago, and she had since grown into a far more confident person—confident enough to tell her crush how she felt about him, to compete with all the other girls for his affection, and to believe that she had a legitimate chance to win. But all of that had happened while she was still in the Academy. Ever since she had become a Genin, her skills as a kunoichi had progressed by leaps and bounds, to a level she could previously only dream about. She knew that she could defeat Ino. She could probably defeat any of the other Genin here!

So no, she wasn't afraid. The only explanation could be that she was finally getting the chance to prove who truly was the better kunoichi. She wasn't shaking with fear, she realized, but with anticipation. It felt as if everything that had happened over the last few years, every choice she had made, every action she took, had led her to this exact spot, as if this were to be the ultimate culmination of their rivalry.

_Some things are just meant to happen_, she thought to herself.

But did the two of them have to be rivals? She remembered the day she had ended her friendship with Ino with clarity. Regardless of everything the blonde had done for her, she made the decision to break all their ties and became her rival. And for what? Just because they both liked Sasuke, an arrogant and selfish boy who treated both of them as if they were animals carrying an infectious disease.

Only now, as she was about to face Ino in battle, did she truly begin to wonder if it had been worth it. She had lost a friend that day and gained nothing. They might have still been best friends if she hadn't done it. Ino had probably been fully aware that Sakura was in love with Sasuke; she must have known. And yet she had never thought that they needed to be rivals. Ino never believed that their friendship needed to end. As she stared at her opponent, she began to mourn the day she had ever developed feelings for Sasuke and the day she stupidly decided to force her best friend to be her enemy.

Bizarrely, she began to wish that she had developed a crush on some other boy; she didn't really care who, just anyone that Ino didn't care about. Like Naruto. He was nice, and would have at least returned the affection. Why couldn't she have gotten a crush on him?

Unfortunately, it was far too late for any of that now. Sighing, she reached up and pulled the headband off the top of her head, wrapping it around her forehead. Ino narrowed her eyes, remembering Sakura's promise to her the day they had become Genin.

_I won't wear my headband around my forehead until the day I can face you as a real shinobi._

Sakura looked back at Ino determinedly. Slowly, Ino took her own headband off her waist and put it on her forehead as well. Looking at each other fiercely, they both understood that this was more to them than just passing on to the final stage of the Chunin Exam. They had both come a long way to get here and endured many hardships; now they could prove their worth to each other and everyone else. To Ino, she might have seen it merely as a way to prove that she deserved Sasuke more than Sakura did. Sakura, however, was beginning to abandon that cause. All she really wanted was to prove to Ino that she was the full-fledged ninja she was claiming to be; that she was no longer the crying little girl Ino had gone and comforted. She closed her eyes, calming herself and focusing on the battle at hand. After a moment, she opened her eyes, prepared to do whatever she had to for victory.

"Let's do this," she said determinedly, really starting the match. She slammed her hands together, concentrating her chakra, and Ino quickly reached into her weapons pouch. Shurikens were flying at her before she could finish performing any jutsu, forcing her to jump out of the way before she could get hit. Even as she flew through the air, more weapons were hurled at her, leading her off so that they wouldn't miss.

Ino was fast; she would have to figure out some way to combat that, and quickly. She twisted in midair, changing her flight path and landing firmly on the ground. The shurikens flew above her head, missing her by inches. Sakura ignored them and charged straight at Ino as fast as her legs would carry her, determined to close the distance between them before Ino could throw more weapons at her.

All she needed to do was get close enough to Ino to strike her. One hit was all she needed. Ironically, her only real concern was that she would kill Ino if she wasn't careful, but she decided to worry about that once she had made it past her defenses. It wouldn't pay to underestimate her opponent. She folded her hands together as she ran, quickly performing the necessary jutsu.

Two clones appeared next to her, and ran in step with her. They weren't solid like Naruto's, and they wouldn't be able to hurt Ino even if they got in close enough. However, they served as a good diversion. Ino pulled out a handful of shurikens, and the two clones ran off in separate directions to encircle her. Hesitating, Ino quickly pulled out another handful of shurikens from her weapons pouch, trying to decide which two she ought to hit. Sakura and her clones had formed a circle around her, and she had to quickly figure out which one was the real one.

Sakura decided to not let her have the luxury of figuring it out. She and her clones bolted at Ino, who wildly threw her weapons in different directions. One of the clones disappeared after taking a direct hit, and Sakura's arm was grazed by a spinning shuriken. Blood dripped out of the wound and onto the concrete floor as she ran, revealing her to be the real Sakura. Ino, however, was concentrating on the remaining clone, which had reached her and was about to punch her.

In a flash, Ino pulled out a kunai and slashed at the clone. The blade cut through the clone's stomach, and it disappeared in a poof of white smoke. A shocked Ino turned to look at the real Sakura, but far too late. Her face turned just in time for Sakura's fist to slam into her nose.

Her head snapped back and she flew backwards for several meters before rolling to a stop. She lied unmoving for a second, then groaned and rose to her knees. Blood was streaming down her face from her nostrils, and the bridge of her nose appeared to be bent out of shape. Glaring at Sakura, she raised her hand to rest on her nose, tentatively tapping it. She winced in pain, her eyes shining with tears. Sakura looked on at her dispassionately, scrutinizing the amount of damage she had inflicted from that single blow. Another hit like that, and the match would be over.

Sakura could have rushed at Ino and ended the fight right there. Instead, allowing Ino to rise to her feet, she stood in place and smirked as the blonde stared at her. Gathering chakra into her hand, making it glow green, Sakura slid it over the shallow wound on her arm, healing it. The entire room seemed to freeze as the various Genin and Jonin stared at her. None of them knew that she had learned medical ninjutsu; a mere Genin acquiring such advanced skills was unheard of. Ino's eyes went wide and she gaped at her.

"Well Ino," said Sakura, grinning, "have I kept my promise?"

Gripping the handle of her kunai, Ino stood up, her legs wobbling as she sent her rival a glare. The stunning blow Sakura had given her had left her dazed, making her dizzy and disoriented. It wasn't five minutes into the match and the tables had already turned decisively in Sakura's favor.

"Th-That's nothing!" Ino spat. "You think you're so great, huh? Just because you can, you can heal yourself or whatever? Well, I'd like to see you try landing another punch on me! Just try! I'll kill you!" With a scream of rage, she raised her kunai and charged at Sakura, who quickly pulled out her own kunai. Blood continued to stream down her face and drip onto the ground, leaving a red trail beneath her feet.

Ino reached her and unsteadily lunged at her, trying to stab Sakura with her kunai. Sakura deflected the blow with her own weapon and elbowed Ino in the face. Ino screamed and dropped her kunai, stepping backwards as blood splattered on the ground. Some of it landed on Sakura and dripped down to fall on her feet. Disgusted, she wiped it away with her hand.

She relented, holding back and waiting for Ino to launch a new attack against her. The reason for this, she told herself, was that she wanted to let Ino do her best and still come up short; it was the only way Sakura could completely prove that she really was the superior ninja. That she might have simply enjoyed toying with her opponent was not a thought she cared to entertain.

Huffing and puffing, Ino stared at the ground, seemingly trying to regain her composure. "So, you've gotten stronger," the blonde said, gritting her teeth in pain. Her eyes slowly moved from the ground to look up at Sakura, following the trail of blood she had left behind. "You can punch harder than I can. But I'll still win. In fact, you're going to quit! Because even if you can keep me from attacking you, you can't stop me from getting inside of you!"

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"Did she just say what I think she said?" asked Naruto, looking down at the two girls.

"Quiet, Naruto," commanded Kakashi. "Pay attention!"

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Ino raised her hands up, forming a window with her fingers and staring at Sakura through it.

"Are you really planning on using _that_ jutsu?" asked Sakura. "Do you seriously believe that it'll work?" Ino didn't respond, glaring at Sakura through her fingers. Sakura continued. "Your soul will leave your body to take over mine. But dodging this jutsu is incredibly easy. If you perform it and miss, your soul will be gone from your body for at least a few minutes, leaving you as limp as a ragdoll and helpless. Using it in a one-on-one battle is suicide. I'm in no danger as long as I'm moving. Are you really this desperate, pig?"

"Shut up!" screamed Ino, furious. "You can't know anything for sure until I try!"

Sakura ran in the exact instant Ino shot her jutsu, avoiding it. Ino went limp, arms falling to her side and her head lolling forward. Sakura stared at her body and grinned.

"Looks like you lose, Ino," she said. "This match is over." Hayate looked at the two, apparently trying to decide if Ino really was completely incapable of fighting.

"Not quite yet, billboard brow!" yelled Ino, looking up with a triumphant grin on her face. Everyone in the arena stared at her, shocked, and Hayate blinked in surprise.

"Wha—" Sakura looked down, feeling something tight constricting around her ankles. A rope of live chakra had wrapped itself around her feet, running through the path of Ino's blood which had splattered all over the place. No matter how hard she tugged, she couldn't break free of the rope's hold; the chakra was too powerful. Ino laughed, a high and shrill noise that rang throughout the arena.

"You fell for it!" she screeched ecstatically. "You totally fell for it! I distracted you with the hand sign earlier, so that you wouldn't see the real trap. Now you can't run anywhere, and I can take over you without worrying about missing!" She raised her hands up again, making another box with her thumbs and forefingers. As she prepared herself to perform the jutsu, Sakura's lips curved up in a grin.

"I always knew you weren't the brightest bulb, Ino," she said slowly. "But I had no idea just how stupid you really were."

"What are you talking about?" snapped Ino, anger flashing over her previously excited face. "You're just scared out of your mind because I'm about to win!"

"You might have trapped my feet, but you haven't trapped my arms," Sakura continued. "And you've just left me one hell of an opening." Her hand whipped into her weapons pouch as Ino's face contorted with terror.

"No!" she yelled. She shut her eyes in concentration and quickly tried to perform her jutsu before it was too late. Even as she summoned the necessary chakra, a handful of shurikens tore into her, shredding her clothes and biting into her skin.

With a scream of pain and rage, Ino fell backwards and landed on her back, her Mind Transfer Jutsu aborted. Her chakra rope disappeared, releasing Sakura.

"Go Sakura!" Naruto suddenly cheered from his spot on the balcony. "Finish that girl off! We all know she's no match for you!"

Sakura looked up at him and felt the beginning of a grin on her face. It seemed that Naruto was always ready to burst into cheer for his teammates. Ino began to shakily stand up, regaining her attention. She was an absolute mess; blood was caked all over her face, and her clothes were in shambles, hanging off her body loosely.

"I'm going to beat you, even if it's the last thing I do!" Ino declared in a weak, trembling voice. "Where the hell do you get off, thinking you're better than me? We're not equals. You're still the same little girl I found in the park, crying because everyone else made fun of her huge forehead. You're nothing…" Ino had worked herself into a rage, pulling out a kunai "You're lucky that I found you that day! You probably wouldn't have even fallen in love with Sasuke if I hadn't done it myself first! I made you into what you are today! You owe _everything_ to me! All you have is because of me! You needed me then, you need me now, and you'll never be better than me!" She screamed at the ceiling in fury.

Her teammates stared at her from their spot on the balcony, apprehensive looks on their faces as they observed her outburst. Ino had gone completely insane. Sakura looked at her former friend with alarm. What had happened to her? _I have to end this fight now, before she gets any worse_, she thought to herself.

Ino screamed again, and charged blindly at Sakura. She had her kunai reared back, determined to impale her opponent and mortal enemy with it. In the moment before her opponent reached her, Sakura quickly concentrated chakra into one of her hands, and it glowed. Ino closed the distance between them and swung her kunai wildly as she charged.

Sakura quickly sidestepped her and grabbed the arm holding the blade and twisted it, at the same time ramming her glowing hand into Ino's stomach.

The blonde froze in place, immobilized, and her eyes became unfocused as her mouth hung open in shock. Blood began to trickle down Ino's lips as a faint squeak emanated from her throat. Everything was deathly still for a long moment, with every eye in the room staring at the two combatants.

Finally, and in what seemed like slow motion, Ino's grip on her kunai loosened, allowing the weapon to fall to the ground with a clatter. Her arm still firmly in Sakura's grasp, she fell to her knees, then went slack, head lolling forward in a frighteningly lifeless fashion. Sakura released her rival's arm, allowing Ino to fully crumple to the ground in an unmoving heap. The room was completely silent as she stood up straight. No applause or cheer suddenly exploded, and Hayate didn't announce the end of the match. Everyone just stared at her, not saying a word. The silence was deafening.

After what seemed like an eternity, Hayate raised his hand to point at Sakura. "Sakura Haruno is the winner," he said hoarsely. "She gets to advance to the final round." Sakura, however, hardly heard him, and looked at Ino's body in horror. Had she…?

Two medics hustled into the arena, carrying a stretcher between them. Going at full speed, they quickly reached Ino's body and set down the stretcher. One of them hastily put two of his fingers on Ino's neck, feeling for her pulse. The dread Sakura had been feeling grew exponentially; the man was taking far too long to say anything, and the grimace on his face was hardly encouraging.

"She's still with us," the medic finally, thankfully said. He was probably talking to his comrade, but it answered Sakura's question nonetheless. She breathed a sigh of relief as he continued. "We need to make sure that there's no major internal bleeding. Come on, let's get her out of here." They loaded Ino onto the stretcher and hefted it up. The quieter of the two men gave Sakura a wary look, and they took off.

She remained frozen in place even as they left. This victory had a very hollow feeling to it. She wasn't sure how long she just stood there, but Hayate coughed, getting her attention.

"Umm, you won…" he said. "Go on and get back with your friends. We need to start the next match." Embarrassed, Sakura nodded and hurried to get onto the balcony as fast as she could, going up the stairs two at a time.

She reached her teammates and leaned to rest on the rail, breathless. She barely noticed as the names once again began flashing on the electronic screen. What had she done?

She suddenly felt a comforting hand rest on her shoulder. "You did good out there, Sakura," said Kakashi quietly. "I'm proud of you."

"I…" Sakura was speechless. She couldn't even figure out how _she_ felt about what she had done out there.

"It must have been hard, having to fight an old friend."

Sakura bit her lip and nodded, not looking up at her sensei.

"But you did what you had to do to win," Kakashi continued. "No one can blame you for that. Not even Ino. You proved to everyone that you're a great ninja, and that was your dream, right?"

Sakura nodded again, but still couldn't make herself look up at him.

"Just consider this another test you had to endure on your way to becoming a Chunin," Kakashi said. "Because I know you're going to make it all the way."

Sakura finally turned to look up at him. "Thank you," she said quietly. Kakashi took his hand off her shoulder and grinned underneath his mask.

"You don't have to thank me," he said. "Just ask your teammates. They'll tell you the same thing."

Sakura turned to look at Hinata and Naruto, who stood at her side. Hinata gave her a comforting smile and nodded her head, while Naruto flashed her his signature grin and gave her a thumbs up. In that moment, Sakura felt a surge of affection for her teammates.

_I love them_, she thought to herself. _I really do._

"Ah! Look at who gets to fight next!" Lee's excited voice suddenly shouted. The screen had finally selected two names, which boldly shined down on the spectators.

**Kiba Inuzuka vs. Neji Hyuga**

Neji slowly walked down the stairs, while Kiba let out a whoop and ran down to the arena, eager to begin the fight.

"He's your cousin, right?" Sakura heard Naruto ask Hinata. The Hyuga nodded, her gaze fixated on the two boys below as they approached each other at the center to face each other. Sakura couldn't help but notice that they both looked awfully worn and beaten, even more so that Team 7. Hayate stood between them and raised his hand in the air after a moment.

"Are there any objections to this match?" he asked in a bored voice.

"No!" said Kiba enthusiastically. "We're ready to go, right Akamaru?" The puppy barked in agreement. Neji stared at them.

"Do I have to fight them?" he asked. Hayate blinked and looked at him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"This guy's a moron," Neji answered. "If I'd found him in the Forest of Death, I would have just passed him up and looked for someone else. I'd prefer a more capable opponent."

"What did you say?" yelled Kiba furiously as Akamaru growled and bared his teeth angrily.

"You're not worth my time," Neji replied, annoyance in his voice. "There's no way you can win. It'd just be a bloodbath. I don't want to fight you." Hayate gazed at Neji curiously, and coughed.

"Unless there's a valid reason as to why you shouldn't fight your selected opponent, the only way you can avoid it is to forfeit," he explained. "Is that what you want to do?"

Neji sighed. "I'll fight him if I have to," he said, the annoyance in his voice now even more noticeable. "But unless he wants to get injured very badly, he should probably quit himself."

"I was about to say the same thing to you!" Kiba yelled angrily. "You don't stand a chance against us, and there's no way we're backing out now, not after we've come so far!"

Hayate stared at the two of them warily, then raised his hand back into the air. "If there're no objections, then let the fifth match…begin."

The two combatants stared at each other, with Neji getting into his Gentle Fist stance and Kiba taking Akamaru out of the front of his jacket.

"You've got some nerve talking like that," Kiba snarled, setting down his puppy on the ground. "We'll wipe the floor with you!"

"Just knock it off and let's get this over with," said Neji irritatedly. He activated his Byakugan and stared at his opponent.

"As you wish!" Kiba said. He crouched low and slammed his hands together. He quickly began to glow with blue chakra, which covered him like flames. His nails extended, transforming into claws, and his teeth grew into sharp fangs. His transformation complete, the aura of blue chakra surrounding him dispersed. "Here I come!" he growled. Like lightning, he sprang from his crouching position and charged at Neji, sticking his elbow out to strike him with it. As quick as he was, Neji was even quicker.

Faster than the eye could follow, Neji grabbed Kiba's arm just as he reached him. Using Kiba's momentum against him, Neji spun on his feet and threw him against the nearby wall. Kiba bounced off and landed on the ground with a thud, groaning.

"Is that the best you can do?" scoffed Neji. Kiba stood up to his full height and spat blood onto the floor.

"I'm just getting started!" he said angrily. Even so, as he stared at his opponent his eyes no longer gleamed with as much confidence as they had just a minute ago. No one had ever countered him so effortlessly before.

"Neji's pretty strong, isn't he?" Sakura asked Hinata, turning to look at her. The girl wordlessly nodded her head. For some reason, she looked uneasy.

"Neji Hyuga was last year's top rookie," Kakashi said, answering Sakura's question. "No one in this year's graduating class even comes close. Not even Sasuke Uchiha."

"So, the outcome of this match has pretty much already been decided," Sakura murmured, looking back down at the arena. _Poor Kiba_, she thought to herself. _It looks like the electronic board screwed him over._

Kiba suddenly reached into his pouch and pulled out what looked like two small balls and hurled them at Neji. They exploded around him, creating a large purple smokescreen.

"Come on Akamaru!" Kiba yelled, and charged at Neji. Akamaru barked and followed his master's lead, sprinting towards the cloud of smoke.

"That was clever of him," Sakura commented. "Neji can't counter what he can't see."

"Not quite," Kakashi replied. "You're forgetting Neji's last name."

"His last…oh," said Sakura, a faint blush on her cheeks. She felt frustrated with herself for forgetting something so obvious; his Byakugan would allow him to see through anything. She stared down at the purple cloud as Kiba charged into it. "I wonder if he's as good as Hinata," she thought out loud. The Hyuga heiress' cheeks went slightly red at the comment and Kakashi let out a mirthless chuckle, but neither of them said anything. Sakura again got the feeling that she'd just said something very stupid.

As she observed the match, Kiba was suddenly thrown out of the purple cloud and sent flying. He landed on his back roughly and tumbled for several feet before rolling to a stop. Neji calmly walked out of the cloud, unscratched. Akamaru barked furiously and leaped at Neji, jaws wide in preparation to bite. Neji snatched the puppy out of the air, grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. Akamaru yelped in pain and kicked his legs, trying to release himself, claws digging into the flesh of the Hyuga's arm. Neji held him up and punched his snout, then hurled him across the room to land next to Kiba.

_He's ruthless…_ Sakura thought. _Even with my ninjutsu, I wonder if I would stand a chance against him… Or if anyone does._

Kiba stood up again and wiped the blood off his face with the sleeve of his jacket. No one could say that he wasn't resilient. Akamaru got up as well and let out a weak growl. Kiba glared at Neji, then looked back down at his injured puppy.

"Looks like it's time to break out the big cannons," he said. "Come on, Akamaru! Let's finish this guy!" Akamaru barked in agreement, and leaped up onto Kiba's head. Kiba reached back into his pouch and pulled out two small pills. He tossed one up to his puppy, who caught it in his gaping maw and swallowed it. He put the second one in his own mouth, and his jaws moved up and down as he chewed on it.

"What are those?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Food pills," Kakashi explained to her. "They drastically increase the user's energy levels. They were developed by the military as a drug to be used for rescue operations in cities ruined by a disaster, where tireless workers were needed to find victims trapped underneath rubble and pull them out. However, many people recognized the use of these pills as an enhancement during battle."

"Hmm…" Sakura looked down at Kiba. Akamaru's fur had turned red.

"Ninja Art of Beast Mimicry!" Kiba called out, slamming his hands together. "Man-Beast Clones!" Akamaru above him began to transform into a replica of Kiba's beast state, turning into a mirror image of his master.

Neji's eyes widened as he looked at them. Having the Byakugan, he was able to actually see just how much their chakra had been increased. However much it had elevated, it must have been enough to be cause for alarm. Neji quickly got into his Gentle Fist stance, ready to defend himself against a new onslaught.

"Let's go!" Kiba roared. Akamaru launched himself off Kiba's back and rocketed towards Neji, hand extended. Kiba also sprang at Neji, making it a two-pronged assault.

Neji had very little time to react. They were much faster than before, thanks to their enhanced energy levels. The power behind their attacks was almost certainly greater as well, even if only thanks to their dramatically increased momentum. Akamaru made a direct line for Neji, making it easier for him to evade the assault. Instead of trying to block with his arms, he quickly dove out of the way; had he tried to run, he wouldn't have moved out of his opponent's path in time. Akamaru shot past him, but Kiba was still heading straight for him. He reached Neji just as the Hyuga had bounced back to his feet. Neji raised his arms in an attempt to defend himself, but far too late. Kiba crashed into him like a locomotive, sending Neji flying backwards. He never even got a chance to land.

Akamaru had turned around and launched a new attack, flying straight at the helpless Neji. He slammed into him, sending Neji spiraling to the hard ground. He landed face-first, and bounced almost an entire foot into the air.

"It looks like their pushing him to his limit," Kakashi murmured. "Maybe they've got what it takes after all…"

"Come on, Akamaru!" Kiba yelled enthusiastically. "We've got him now!" The two charged at Neji again just as he had climbed to his feet. His lip was busted and a bruise was forming a dark ring around one of his eyes, but he was otherwise appeared unharmed. Nevertheless, Sakura suspected he had at least a couple of cracked ribs underneath his bloodied and torn shirt. Getting into his Gentle Fist stance, he allowed Kiba and Akamaru to attack him, rather than charging out to meet them.

They both reached him at the same time, and tried slamming into him in a coordinated attack. Akamaru lunged at him, swiping his claw. Neji spun on his feet and dodged the blow, at the same time shooting out his own arm to hit Akamaru. Instead of being able to shoot past Neji and loop around, Akamaru was struck in the stomach by Neji's Gentle Fist attack. Blue chakra flashed and the blow rippled throughout his body. Akamaru doubled over and coughed up blood (in a voice eerily like Kiba's), unable to launch a counter-attack. It seemed that the same trick didn't work on Neji twice; instead of simply dodging Akamaru's charge, he had stopped him dead in his tracks and prevented himself from being cornered.

Kiba quickly followed Akamaru's charge, lagging by about a second. If Akamaru's initial attack had been successful, Kiba would have been in an excellent position to finish Neji off and end the battle. It seemed that it only took one tiny hiccup in the plan to make the entire thing fall apart.

Neji grabbed the immobilized Akamaru by the collar of his jacket and hurled him at Kiba. He quickly tried stopping his charge, his feet sliding on the ground below. It didn't help; Akamaru collided into him and they both sprawled to the ground. Neji took a deep breath and exhaled, getting back into his proper stance. It seemed that no matter what happened, his strategy was to remain on the defensive at all times. That strategy was superb against a superior opponent, or one that you weren't quite sure what their strengths were. But in this case, taking such a cautious stance seemed unnecessary, bordering on idiotic. Why wouldn't Neji take the initiative and finish off his opponents?

Kiba and Akamaru climbed up, baring their teeth in fearsome growls as they glared at Neji.

"Come on Akamaru!" Kiba said. "At the same time!" Akamaru growled in agreement. In his man-beast clone state, he could neither bark nor speak, leaving his vocal options rather limited. They lunged at Neji again, except neither of them hung back to make a follow-up attack. It seemed that Kiba learned quickly, too.

They attacked Neji and slashed at him with tooth and nail relentlessly. The Hyuga dodged their attacks, ducking his head and spinning on his feet as they viciously clawed at him. If it was a one-on-one battle, Neji would have been able to make quick work of his opponent, defeating them with his Gentle Fist style. However, with two enemies to face, he had no time to retaliate. He barely had time to even dodge. If he hadn't been so quick on his feet to begin with, he would have been clawed to death by now.

Akamaru swung at him with his claws, and Neji ducked under it. Kiba followed through, trying to kick Neji's face as the Hyuga ducked. Neji threw himself to the ground and rolled out of the way, tucking his arms close to his chest. He sprang back up, then tried retaliating against Kiba, running towards him. Before he made it, Akamaru swiftly reappeared in front of him, hand reared back. Neji's arms had been behind him as he ran; before he could jump out of the way or raise his hands in defense, Akamaru's claws raked across his chest, turning his clothes to ribbons and gashing into his flesh. Neji stumbled backwards, a grimace on his face. His hands were halfway raised when Akamaru swung a second time, striking him across the face.

Neji's head snapped to the side, blood flying from the fresh gash in his cheek and splattering to the ground. He stumbled back even further, but Akamaru was taking full advantage of this new opening. He uppercutted Neji, his fist slamming into the Hyuga's jaw and making his head snap backwards. Neji collapsed and fell onto the ground, struggling to get back onto his feet. He was halfway up when Akamaru grabbed him by his collar, picking him up. He threw Neji as hard as he could, sending the Hyuga flying for several meters before he tumbled to the ground and slowly rolled to a halt.

"Great job, Akamaru!" Kiba shouted. "Now let's finish this! No more games! Ultimate Taijutsu!" Akamaru turned to look at him and nodded his head vigorously, growling. Neji was slowly climbing back to his feet, blood streaming down his body and forming a pool at his feet. This match was certainly turning into a bloodbath, just as he had predicted—however, he likely hadn't imagined that it would be his own blood staining the concrete floor. Finally reaching his full height once again, he looked over at his opponents. The Hyuga no longer appeared cool and emotionless; instead, his eyes had narrowed, and his upper lip was beginning to curl into what looked like a snarl.

Before he had a chance to do or say anything, Kiba and Akamaru sprang into action. They rapidly began spinning faster and faster, until they became nothing more than huge drills homing in on Neji with perfect coordination. In the instant before they reached him, Neji spun on his feet, stretching his arms out. He spun with incredible speed, one which rivaled Kiba's and Akamaru's. A dome of blue chakra immediately surrounded him, hiding him from view and forming a defensive shield. Kiba and Akamaru reached him just as his spinning reached its climax.

There was an incredible explosion as they collided with the dome of spinning chakra. For a moment, it looked like they were going to drill straight through it and reach Neji. However, they quickly lost momentum and were repulsed, sent flying in different directions as Kiba gave out a yell. Recovering quickly, they were both on their feet again as Neji's spin slowed to a stop, the dome dispersing. Akamaru growled and charged at Neji, hand reared back to slash him again.

"Enough!" yelled Neji angrily. He spun on his feet as Akamaru reached him, adding momentum to the blow he delivered to the clone's chest. Akamaru let out a yelp and stepped backwards, halted by the severity of a Gentle Fist attack. Neji didn't let up. He struck again and again, all over Akamaru's body. Akamaru was helpless, and Kiba rushed to the clone's aide. Before he could reach them, Neji kicked Akamaru's feet out from under him, throwing him to the ground. He dropped to a kneeling position, viciously slamming his elbow into Akamaru's face. The clone let out a cry and his limbs went rigid before falling back down to the ground. He disappeared in a puff of white smoke, and was replaced with a battered and bloody Akamaru, who lay unconscious on the ground.

"I'll make you pay for that!" Kiba swore furiously. He lunged at Neji, who sidestepped the blind charge. As Kiba shot past, he reached out and grabbed the back of his hood, yanking him backwards. Kiba let out a choking sound and flailed his arms wildly as Neji slammed him to the ground. Kiba never got the chance to climb back up; Neji grabbed him by the throat and picked him up again. There was a vicious glint in his eyes that seemed almost subhuman; this wasn't the same Neji from the start of the match, the one who scoffed at having to fight Kiba. He was no longer calm and collected; a dark, vicious rage seemed to have descended upon him. Was this what happened when a battle didn't go exactly as he had expected it would?

He strangled Kiba, holding him by the throat with one hand. Kiba made a gasping noise as he struggled to breathe, and his feet kicked in the air wildly as he clawed at Neji's arm. He repeatedly slashed at it, digging his nails deep into Neji's flesh and splattering his blood all over both of them, but the Hyuga was completely unfazed. Indeed, a sinister grin was beginning to play at his lips as he continued to hold Kiba up, slowly killing him.

Suddenly, with the last bit of strength he had remaining, Kiba reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. Before Neji could react, he plunged it deeply into the Hyuga's forearm and twisted it. Neji screamed and released him, grabbing the kunai's handle and ripping it out, sending blood flying in all directions. Kiba gazed at him, eyes unfocused as he swayed on his feet. His face was blue, and he struggled to breathe. Huffing and puffing, he unsteadily stumbled forward for several steps, then slowly collapsed to the ground. He didn't move, and his body rose and fell as he breathed raggedly. Glaring at the body, Neji tossed the bloody kunai to the ground with a clatter. Blood streamed down his arm where the blade had impaled him, dripping to the ground from his fingertips.

"I told you he was nothing but a moron," he spat. Hayate slowly walked to Kiba's side, laying his hand to rest on his forehead. After a moment, he stood up straight and pointed at Neji.

"The winner is Neji Hyuga," he declared. "He gets to pass on to the final round." There was no burst of applause from Team Guy at this.

"Neji does not usually get so…angry," Sakura heard Lee murmur uneasily. "What do you suppose has gotten into him?"

"Who knows?" Tenten replied. She sounded worried. Guy didn't offer any insight of his own, instead looking down at his Genin with concern.

Medics rushed into the arena with a stretcher, and they quickly loaded Kiba onto it, laying Akamaru to rest on his chest. They hefted up the stretcher and began to file out of the room.

"Come on, Neji," one of them said. "Let's go." He nodded his head and left the room along with them, clutching his injured arm. With the way he was bleeding, it seemed likely that the medics would have asked him to come with them regardless, to make sure he didn't suffer any ill effects from a loss of blood. As the group of five exited the arena, Hayate walked over to the bloody kunai Neji had thrown to the ground and wiped it dry before putting it in his pocket.

"Next match, please," he called out. The board began its process of choosing names as they flashed past rapidly.

"Is Neji like this all the time?" Sakura asked Hinata, turning to look at her. Hinata shrugged. Her face looked awfully pale, as if she had been deeply disturbed by the match. Sakura decided not to press the issue, and Naruto's sudden cheering got her complete attention.

"Woohoo!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Check out who's fighting next!" Sakura whipped her head around to look at the screen, and saw the names it had chosen.

**Hinata Hyuga vs. Tsuchi Kin**

Hinata gasped when she saw that it was now her turn.

"Go on, Hinata!" Naruto said encouragingly, bumping his fist against her shoulder. "Kick her ass!" Hinata's cheeks went red, and she began to wander down the balcony, unable to look up and keeping her eyes focused on the floor in front of her.

Sakura remembered Kin as being one of the mysterious Sound Genin. Having never seen her in combat, she wasn't sure whether the selection was a lucky one for Hinata or a terrible one.

_That Zaku idiot didn't last long against Shikamaru_, she thought to herself. _But will all of those Genin be so easy to defeat?_

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Kin smirked when she saw the names, and began to walk down the balcony towards the stairs.

"Kin," Dosu suddenly said. She stopped and turned to look at him. "Be careful out there," he advised. "You're still not fully recovered from your wounds. Hinata might not be as dangerous as her cousin, but it would still be unwise to get anywhere near her. Take her out from afar, and do it fast."

Kin smiled sweetly at him. "That won't be a problem."

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Hinata stood in the center of the arena, trembling slightly with apprehension and struggling to keep her breathing under control. Much of the stone floor was wet and slippery with blood, adding an "interesting" factor to the otherwise controlled conditions of the terrain.

She stared at her opponent, determined to not let her fear show. Despite everything she had gone through, direct confrontations still made her uneasy. Everytime she had gotten into a fight, Naruto had been at her side, giving her courage and confidence. But Naruto couldn't help her here. No one could. She was going to have to win on her own.

That, of course, was the entire point. What kind of ninja would she be if she couldn't fight her own battles? Not one fit to be a Chunin, and certainly not one who would earn her father's respect. Sakura had already won her battle, and she knew that Naruto was going to win his. She couldn't be the only one who failed. How would Naruto learn to see her as someone to respect if she was left behind?

_I can't lose_, she thought to herself desperately. _I can't be left behind. Everything I've done up until now will have been for nothing if I lose here. I have to win!_ She took deep and slow breaths, and stilled her trembling. _This isn't a bad situation at all_, she thought to herself. _In fact, this is a good thing. At last, I get a chance to prove myself in front of Naruto. I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity._

"Are there any objections to this match?" Hayate asked, raising his hand into the air.

"Of course not," Kin said in a sweet voice.

"N-No," Hinata answered, unable to keep her voice steady. Kin's eyes glinted malevolently at the stutter, and Hinata's hands formed tight fists at her side out of frustration. The match hadn't even started, and she was already messing up.

"Then let the sixth match begin," Hayate commanded as he slashed his hand down, stepping out of their way.

Hinata looked at Kin warily, then took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She exhaled, then slid to rest in her Gentle Fist stance, prepared to defend herself, deciding to follow the example of her cousin. Neji's defensive strategy had allowed him to last out against Kiba's fierce onslaught. Perhaps Hinata wasn't as skilled as her cousin, but perhaps Kin wasn't as powerful as Kiba, either. Hinata remembered her brief fight with Lee before the Chunin Exam began, and how she had fared relatively well (at least until the very end).

_If she tries to attack me up close with taijutsu, then the battle will be in my favor, at least as long as she doesn't know the Lotus technique_, Hinata thought to herself. _But I think that the Lotus is a secret of Konoha anyways, and so she would have no way of learning it. As long as I defend, I should have the advantage here…so no matter what happens, I can't go on the attack. It's too risky._

"What's the matter?" Kin asked her, grinning. "Are you too scared to attack me?"

Hinata swallowed nervously and struggled to keep her face a mask of calm. If Kin found out just how scared she really was… Well, the results probably wouldn't be very good. As it was, Kin took one look at her and began to laugh.

"Poor thing," she said. "Here, let me put you out of your misery." She reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out two senbon needles, holding them in the webbings of her fingers. Hinata was immediately reminded of Haku, the boy from the Hidden Mist Village. He had wielded similar needles with deadly accuracy. Did Kin possess the same level of expertise as he did?

Before Hinata could think of anything else, Kin bolted into action, springing from her standing position and hurling her senbon. For a fraction of a second, Hinata began to reach for her weapons pouch, but quickly thought better of it. She couldn't hope to hit or deflect such small targets with a kunai.

Mimicking her cousin's style, she spun on her feet and avoided the senbon, which flew past her. She heard a faint tinkling sound as they shot past, and quickly realized that there were two small Christmas bells attached to the needles.

_That's an old trick they taught back at the Academy_, she realized. _Even Hanabi would know this one. Send some you can hear the first time, then send some you can't the second… How could anyone seriously competing in the Chunin Exam fall for this?_

Hinata turned back to look at Kin, getting back into her proper stance. If Kin had to resort to using a textbook jutsu like this, then chances were she wasn't very skilled in taijutsu, which had been her worst fear. Hinata could evade all day if she had to, until Kin's needle reserves had been exhausted. Kin suddenly smirked and began pulling on something. The motions of her hand weren't totally unlike those of Kankuro's when he had created invisible chakra strings to control his wooden puppet. However, Kin obviously had no puppet to manipulate. Perplexed, Hinata tried to understand what she was up to.

An incessant ringing began behind her, and Hinata did her best to ignore it. _So that's what she's up to_, she realized. Kin must have attached strings to the bells, adding a twist to the over-used strategy. It must have been meant to deceive her into thinking needles were flying at her from behind, which would have made her turn around and give Kin an opening. Luckily for Hinata, she had seen Kin clearly, and knew that she hadn't thrown anything else. She allowed a small grin of her own to form. Kin returned the expression, giving her opponent another sweet smile as she continued to tug on the strings.

Before Hinata knew what was happening, she suddenly felt very woozy, and her grin was quickly replaced by a grimace. She felt incredibly dizzy, and nausea was beginning to form in the pit of her stomach. The room span around her, and her legs became wobbly as she dropped her stance.

_What's…happening…_

"Did you seriously believe that I was only using a worn out jutsu?" Kin scoffed, her smile growing wider as she laughed. Right before Hinata's eyes, Kin turned into multiple opponents in front of her, replicas caused by her inability to focus on the true target. "That I got this far without knowing anything more advanced than a basic trick? Well, you know what they say about making assumptions…" The dozen or so Kins raised their arms up, then reared them back and threw more needles. These were not meant as a diversionary tactic; they were the real deal. Hinata felt them pierce her in several places. They weren't fatal, but they were incredibly painful. This only added to her nausea, making her even more disoriented. With a groan, she fell to her knees, her head ringing. That infernal ringing, it wouldn't stop…

Kin steadily began to walk towards her, wrapping the strings she held around her fingers to keep them taught, allowing her to continuously tug on them and ring the bells. "These bells ring at a frequency that directly affects the brain," Kin explained happily. "It bypasses all those fancy taijutsu defenses you have, and allows me to do something like…this!" Kin swept her foot up, kicking Hinata in the chin. She fell onto her back, tasting blood in her mouth. "And the best part is," Kin continued, "that the longer I ring these bells, the worse you'll get. Pretty soon, it'll be hopeless, and they'll just have to call the match. I could just ring these bells until you're unconscious…but that would take all the fun out of it!" She kicked Hinata again, this time in the side. With a groan, she heard several of her ribs crack as the intense, sharp pain shot throughout her body.

_Not here…_ she thought with desperation. _Not now, not like this…_

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Naruto gripped the rail in front of him tightly, his knuckles turning white. A mix of fear and outrage was etched all over his face as he watched the Sound ninja laugh and kick Hinata again. Why did it have to be this way? He had the powerful urge to leap down into the arena and help her. He wanted to beat the hell out of Kin himself, regardless of the fact that she was a girl. Watching Hinata getting beaten like this and being unable to do anything…it was just too painful to bear.

"Why doesn't she do anything?" he murmured. "Why doesn't she just get back up and fight?" Had Sakura been mercilessly thrown around the arena by her own opponent, Naruto knew that he would have felt an identical urge to intervene on her behalf. Fortunately, she had had little trouble dispatching Ino, and Naruto never felt the need to worry. But it seemed that Hinata was up against a far tougher opponent, one she might not be able to defeat. Now there was no telling what might happen to her down there.

"Aren't you paying attention, Naruto?" Sakura said. Fear was in her voice as well. "It's because she can't! Those stupid bells…they're messing up her mind or something…" She trailed off and grabbed the rail in front of her as well. They stood in horrified silence as they watched Hinata take another kick to her stomach.

"You guys shouldn't worry about Hinata so much," Kakashi said calmly.

"How can you say that at a time like this?" Naruto asked furiously. "She's being kicked around like a ragdoll out there!"

"She'll pull through," he assured. "Just watch."

"Are you watching the same match as me?" Naruto asked angrily. Kakashi sighed.

"Naruto, there's something that you have yet to fully grasp and respect about Hinata," he said. "She is heiress to the Hyuga Clan, the most powerful family in Konoha's past or present. Not even the near-extinct Uchiha Clan maintained such a strict doctrine of pride and excellence. Through her veins runs the most distinguished of bloods. Whether she meets her father's standards or not, she is a genius by nature. When she needs it most, it will awaken within her… She really just needs the proper motivation, that's all."

"Hinata, a genius?" Naruto asked, puzzled. "But…"

"Just watch, Naruto," Kakashi said. "See for yourself. One way or another, Hinata will find a way out of this." Naruto swiftly turned back to look at the two kunoichis, as if he were expecting Hinata to suddenly hop back to her feet as if nothing had just happened. Kakashi also looked down at his Genin, worry beginning to creep into him.

"Well, I sure hope the thought of losing is the 'motivation' she needs," Sakura commented. "Things sure aren't looking good for her, and she's running out of time."

_Either she'll finally unleash her full strength_, Kakashi thought to himself, _or she'll unleash the power of the curse seal. I can only pray that it's the first one…_

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As Hinata lay crumpled on the floor, a flash of insight suddenly hit her. Two, actually. The first one was that, as horrible as that ringing was, it wouldn't be impossible to make it stop. It really ought to be incredibly simple—just cut the string Kin was holding, and it would come to an end.

The second one was that if Kin was close enough to be kicking her, then she was close enough for her to hit back. Despite being so dizzy, she could clearly see where Kin was due to the fact that she was so close. Not having to worry about blindly lashing out and missing, Hinata focused as hard as she could on Kin's ankles, which were positioned right in front of her.

She endured another kick to her stomach, then watched as Kin set her foot back down; the kunoichi had paused to say something—no doubt to gloat—but Hinata found it impossible to understand her. Concentrating on that precise spot where her opponent's feet were planted, Hinata inhaled a deep breath and closed her eyes. Vision would only throw her off here. Using as much energy as she could muster, she nimbly rolled over so that her hands rested on the stone floor, and swung her extended leg out to kick Kin's feet out from under her.

Kin had been in the middle of swinging her foot back for another kick, and was completely off balance when Hinata struck. She had no time to react; she hadn't even been expecting Hinata to move, let alone swiftly leap into an offensive. She fell to the ground with an angry cry, and the wire in her hand slipped free of her grasp. The bells finally fell silent.

Hinata felt like grinning with relief, but couldn't. Instead, grimacing, her arms gave out underneath her and her chest made contact with the floor as she collapsed. Her stomach lurched, and within a moment she was vomiting its contents onto the concrete. Hinata blinked rapidly as the arena around her gradually came back into focus; it seemed that the dizziness was disappearing as quickly as it had come. Breathing raggedly, she weakly moved her arm to her face so she could wipe the vomit from her lips. Unfortunately, Kin had long since recovered from the Hyuga's attack, which had had very little power behind it and consequently inflicted no noticeable damage.

"_Bitch_!" Kin spat, springing back to her feet. Though the attack had taken her by surprise, she hadn't really been hurt, and it only took a few seconds for her to pick herself up off the ground.

HInata's senses might have been restored, but her limbs reacted far too slowly to her commands to prepare herself for her opponent's new attack. Now with a running start, Kin swung another kick at her helpless opponent, this time aiming for her face rather than her stomach. Hinata had time only to open her eyes wide in alarm before the blow connected. Her nose was crushed, and blood splattered all over her face, Kin's foot, and the ground as her head snapped back violently. As her vision went red, she felt herself being forced to her feet as Kin grabbed the collar of her jacket and lifted her up. What little recovery she'd made from the effects of Kin's bells had been undone by the devastating kick she'd just endured; indeed, she was surprised that she remained conscious, and wondered if that would last for very much longer.

Keeping one hand firmly gripping her jacket, Kin used her other to slap Hinata across the cheek, then bring it back to backhand her across the other side of her face. The blows had enough power behind them that the Hyuga was sure her opponent had used chakra to add some force to them, though it might have just felt that way. Not finished, Kin balled the hand into a fist and slugged Hinata in the face, then kneed her in the stomach. Breathless, dizzy, and unable to draw any energy to move, her head lolled forward as her arms hung limp at her sides; the only thing keeping her from collapsing to the floor was Kin's hold of her collar. Her opponent, however, seemed to decide that she was through.

"Pathetic," she sneered, and threw Hinata to the ground in disgust. Kin turned away from the girl to face Hayate, who was standing several meters away. "She's done," she said, gesturing to her opponent. "Declare me the winner and end this, before it gets _really_ ugly." For emphasis, she stepped away from Hinata's beaten body and began walking in the direction of the stairs leading out of the arena. His face expressionless, the proctor's eyes slid to the fallen Hyuga and scrutinized her.

Breathing raggedly, as if every lungful of air she took brought her a fresh wave of pain, she struggled just to keep her face off the ground, revealing the agonized expression she wore. Nevertheless, it was unquestionable that she was still fully conscious. _I'm not going to give up_, Hinata thought to herself determinedly. She wasn't certain how she had managed to avoid passing out; she'd never had so much abuse inflicted on her in such a short space of time. _But I'm still here_, she thought. _I can still fight._

She coughed and spat a mouthful of blood onto the concrete in front of her. As Hayate continued to watch her with a dispassion bordering on boredom, she grunted and slowly pushed on the floor with her hands, gritting her teeth and screwing her eyes shut as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. After what felt like must have been minutes of effort, she succeeded in lifting her chest off the ground as her elbows shook unsteadily. Having expected the proctor to call the match, but hearing nothing, Kin stopped walking and turned to look back at her opponent, and watched with a brow raised as Hinata slowly rose up to rest on her knee, pausing to catch her breath. Turning again to Hayate, she waited for him to say something, but he remained silent.

"Oh come on!" she said, irritated. "Just look at her! You can't seriously believe that she can still fight!" Indeed, looking at Hinata as she then managed to force herself into a standing position, panting and swaying on her feet, it was difficult to believe that she would be capable of walking in a straight line, let alone fighting and winning a battle. Her nose was smashed and very visibly broken, with blood streaming out of her nostrils and covering her lower face and neck; her beige jacket was now covered with both blood and vomit; there were a number of senbon needles sticking out of her torso and shoulders; and her inability to stand upright steadily made it look like she'd raided someone's sake cabinet. Nevertheless, the proctor said nothing, eying the two kunoichis with disinterest, as if Hinata had never fallen and Kin hadn't addressed him. Evidently, he'd seen worse. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Kin rolled her eyes and turned around so she could face her opponent.

Hinata almost wished that Hayate had said something to call the match. It would have brought this nightmare to an end, and she wouldn't have had to deal with the guilt that came with forfeiting. _But if I let him end the match, then I would be quitting just the same_, she realized. _I can't give up. Naruto wouldn't. And that's why he'll never lose… So I can't give up either. Not now, not ever._

"Come on, Hinata!" Naruto suddenly yelled down at her, breaking the silence of the arena. His voice didn't exactly have an encouraging tone to it; indeed, he sounded almost…angry. And as he continued to yell, the anger in his voice seemed to boil over into a fury. "You're the Hyuga heiress! You have the Byakugan! You're one of the best ninjas in this entire village! _Are you really going to let yourself get pushed around by some nobody_?!"

"Yeah!" piped in Sakura, apparently wanting to make sure she contributed to the "encouragement." "What he said! She's nothing! You can beat her without breaking a sweat!"

Despite the wracking pain throbbing in every inch of her body, Hinata couldn't help but close her eyes and grin feebly. _Thank you, Naruto_, she thought. _Thank you, Sakura__… If you guys won't doubt that I can actually win this match, then neither will I. _Opening her eyes and looking back up at her opponent, she saw that Kin was now glowering, her hands balled into tight fists at her sides as one of her eyes twitched, clearly not very appreciative of the things Naruto and Sakura had been yelling about her.

Her legs trembling dangerously underneath her, Hinata stared back at the Sound Genin fearlessly, determined to react to her situation the same way Naruto would. As Kin watched, the Hyuga raised the back of her hand to her face and wiped some of the blood off her lips, narrowing her eyes at her opponent."Is that all you've got, then?" she asked out loud, hoping her voice didn't betray the agonizing pain she was experiencing; she smiled inwardly as Kin's glower grew even darker. "Very, very unimpressive…"

"Hyuga," Kin said through gritted teeth. "You really are absolutely horrible at talking trash. If you're so unimpressed, why don't you come over here and show me how it's done?"

"If that's what you want," she replied. Hinata, unfortunately, was still having difficulty remaining upright, and wasn't yet ready to launch an offensive—she might not have been in good condition to attack anyone until she had been treated at a hospital. But ready or not, she was going to try.

Clasping her hands together, she began concentrating her chakra, hoping she would have a moment to try and recover. However, Kin was not willing to oblige. Pulling out a handful of needles, she quickly hurled them at Hinata. Luckily, she had been able to tell what Kin was about to do the instant her hand dove for the pouch, and had enough time to concentrate chakra into her legs and feet to quickly dodge the attack. Grimly, she realized that her situation was rather dire if she required time to concentrate chakra just so she could move like a normal person. But with no other real options, she'd just have to deal with it until she had fully recovered from Kin's vicious assault.

Again using chakra, her hand dove into her weapons pouch as she ran, pulling out a kunai and hurling it at the Sound kunoichi. The throw was sloppy, and Kin's reflexes allowed her to easily move out of the weapon's path; it flew past her shoulder as she watched Hinata with narrowed eyes. Skidding to a halt, Hinata similarly watched her opponent closely, and tried to weigh her options in order to develop some sort of plan. It hurt to simply breathe, let alone run and jump and throw punches. While taijutsu was normally her strength, she wasn't positive that she'd fare well against Kin up close. Logically, this meant that she should keep her distance, but consequently she would be limited to throwing weapons, a skill she had never been particularly proficient in. While Kin had turned out to be nowhere near Haku's level with her senbon, she was still a great deal better than Hinata when it came to landing hits on her enemies from a distance. _I don't have many advantages at the moment__… But I do have a kekkei genkai, and it looks like I'll have to use whatever I have at my disposal._

Quickly bringing her hands together to form a seal, Hinata shut her eyes and concentrated. "Byakugan!" she murmured. Upon reopening them, it took her a moment to adjust to her augmented vision and focus on the Sound Genin before her._  
_

"Ah, so you're finally using your bloodline limit," Kin said, hands on her hips. Her earlier fury was now beginning to dissipate, replaced by a milder irritation. "I guess you really are determined to keep going." She moved one hand to hover over her pouch of needles. "It's nice to meet a girl who's got some fight in her. But you're wasting my time." Still lacking the reflexes to react quickly, Hinata could only watch as Kin rapidly pulled out several needles and threw them; however, her ears picked up a deceptively merry ringing, and her Byakugan allowed her to easily spot the slim needles as they sailed through the air, the bells hanging to them, and the metal wires attached to the bells at one end and held in Kin's hand at the other, all of which had been entirely invisible to her before.

Hinata wasn't forced to dodge, as the senbon embedded themselves in the concrete wall several meters to her left. No doubt planning to simply use the ringing to force Hinata into unconsciousness, Kin hadn't even bothered to aim for her opponent when she threw them. Her gaze shifting back to Kin, she saw that the kunoichi was already tugging on her strings, and the ringing immediately followed. Their effects weren't immediate, but she knew her window of opportunity to do something was small, and it would only vanish if she hesitated.

"Not this time," she muttered, yanking a new kunai out of her weapons pouch. With another chakra burst, she sprinted towards Kin, angling herself so that she would run into the metal wires. Simultaneously, her free hand dove into the pouch at her hip, extracting a shuriken as her feet pounded against the ground. In the moment before she reached the thin strings, she caught a glimpse of the expression on Kin's face. It seemed to be some sort of combination between glee and disbelief; no doubt gleeful that Hinata was charging after her and ignoring the true threat, and disbelief that someone could be so stupid as to not realize that the bells needed to be neutralized. She was wrong on both presumptions. _She's underestimating me, and she'll pay for it._

The instant she got within reach of the metal wires, Hinata immediately slashed at them with her kunai with as much force as she could muster. Fortunately, Kin had been holding them extremely taught and they had very little flexibility; they gave way under the blade's sharp edge and severed. Determined to act before Kin could, she grunted with effort and hurled her shuriken at the Sound Genin. While her accuracy was bad enough in optimal conditions, with the speed she was moving she may as well have thrown the weapon with her eyes shut, not even pausing to aim and just throwing it in the general direction of her opponent. She wasn't much counting on hurting the kunoichi; she only hoped to keep her opponent off balance before she could react to the wires being cut.

In the back of her mind, Hinata vaguely recalled hearing the phrase that it was better to be lucky than skilled. Whoever had said that must have known what they were talking about.

The shuriken tore through the air and slashed Kin in the side of the neck, grazing her. Blood spurted out of the shallow wound, and the kunoichi let out a surprised yelp as she instinctively reached for her neck. Marveling at her unbelievable fortune, Hinata might have paused in awe, if not for the fact that she had never stopped running and was still moving towards her opponent. Without even realizing what she was doing, she flipped the kunai in her hand so that she now gripped it in a way that would allow her to easily thrust it into Kin; it was almost as if her body was now doing everything on its own without instruction, and was simply allowing her mind to observe and think whatever it wanted.

Out of breath and gasping for air, she ignored the screaming protests of her muscles and the pain that shot up through her legs and up her back with every step she took, using chakra to keep herself moving and focusing on her opponent. It took Kin a moment to recover from the surprise of being wounded and look up, which was nearly a moment too long. Her eyes widened with surprise when she saw that Hinata was now within a couple feet of her, and was less than a second away from driving a kunai into her torso. With no time to jump or roll out of the way, the Sound Genin quickly slapped Hinata's forearm, misdirecting the thrust; instead of impaling her in the ribs, the blade slashed into her abdomen, driving deeply into the flesh just above her left hip.

While she had been able to save herself from a possibly fatal injury, she could not stop Hinata's charge; the Hyuga crashed into her, and the howl of pain the Sound Genin let out was cut off as the wind was knocked out of her. The pair tumbled and rolled across the bloody concrete floor, both of them desperately trying to achieve dominance and pin her opponent. Hinata, heavily injured and weak, punched and clawed with her free hand and repeatedly tried to plunge her kunai into Kin's flesh, using chakra to put as much power behind her blows as possible. Kin, still disbelieving at how the battle had suddenly taken such a dramatic turn for the worse, had to endure her painful new wounds as she tried to throw Hinata off her, even as her blood continued to spill all over the ground they were struggling on. The Hyuga's wounds weren't nearly as grievous as the ones she had just dealt to her opponent, and she was already recovering from the past assault, requiring less and less chakra to move.

Due to Hinata's initiative, Kin's unpreparedness, and her new injuries, Hinata succeeded in pinning her opponent to the floor; she landed another blow, stabbing her kunai deeply into Kin's left shoulder, and the Sound Genin screamed in fury and pain. As Hinata raised her kunai for another attack, Kin swiftly took the opportunity to retaliate, ramming her knee into the Hyuga's stomach. Too weak to let out a cry, Hinata squeaked in pain and surprise, faltering in her attack for a second. However, that was all the time Kin would need; using her uninjured arm, she swung her fist and slammed it into Hinata's throat.

Dropping the kunai, Hinata gasped and tried to suck in air, and Kin planted a foot on the Leaf Genin's chest and forced her off. Clutching at her neck, Hinata fell on her back and continued trying to suck in deep breaths of air; this injury was quite unlike anything Kin had done to her earlier, and for a moment she was worried that she was on the verge of suffocating. Forcing herself to keep a level head, she calmed down and focused on inhaling; despite the fact that she wasn't facing Kin, her Byakugan allowed her to see that her opponent had not recovered either, giving her at least a few more seconds to try and catch her breath. Taking deep breaths, Hinata massaged her throat and slowly climbed back to a standing position. With her legs uninjured, she did not have an especially difficult time standing, and rising to her feet didn't take as long as it had before.

Seeing Hinata's quick recovery, Kin forced herself back to her feet as well, though by the look on her face, doing so required a bit of effort. With a grimace, she was using both her hands to apply pressure to the stab wound above her hip; blood continued to trickle through her fingers and drip onto the floor. Using the Byakugan, Hinata could not see colors as easily as with her normal vision, but she imagined that Kin's face might have paled from the blood loss. Looking over her opponent, she could see with dismay that she had failed to inflict any severe injuries on the Sound kunoichi. The shuriken had not hit any major veins or arteries, nor had the stab wound in her arm, and the stab wound above her hip hadn't touched any of her organs.

_But Kin's not the one with Byakugan_, Hinata thought, an idea suddenly forming in her mind.

She looked the Sound Genin in the eye and allowed a small grin to form on her face. "You're dying," she said, speaking in between breaths. Kin narrowed her eyes but said nothing; Hinata continued. "When you hit my arm? You sent my kunai straight into your large intestine." Pausing to catch her breath, she saw Kin's expression change, her eyes widening and her lips parting slightly. "You've got waste leaking out, straight into your bloodstream. You're being poisoned." Disbelievingly, Kin glanced at the wound she was still applying pressure to; blood continued to trickle through her fingers and run down her shirt. Nothing of the sort was happening. But Kin didn't know that.

Hinata's grin grew wider, and she felt like laughing. She probably would have, if only she possessed the energy. "You don't stand a chance at winning anymore; in a few minutes you'll probably just collapse. If you don't forfeit right now, you'll probably die." She paused to take another breath as Kin wordlessly looked up from the wound to Hinata. "So, it's up to you. Either you quit now and live, or you don't quit, and you die. I win either way." Smiling at her opponent, she managed a weak giggle. She had come so close to losing before…and here she was about to make Kin forfeit of her own volition. Wasn't that something?

The Sound kunoichi neither moved nor said anything for another several seconds. Slowly, a look of pure rage began to develop on her face as her entire body appeared to quiver. "You bitch…" she growled through gritted teeth. "You bitch… You worthless bitch…" She removed her hands from the bloody wound at her side; Hinata expected her to raise one arm in the air and signal her forfeiture, but instead the Sound Genin's hands balled into fists at her sides. "I'll kill you, you bitch," her voice rising in both volume and fury. "I'll slit your pretty little throat and take you down with me!"

Hinata's grin vanished, and she stared at her infuriated opponent with what could best be described as dismay. _Oh_, she thought. _Well that wasn't what I— _She didn't have time to finish the thought as Kin screamed in rage and charged.

Hinata's right foot instinctively slid back for her Gentle Fist stance, but as she hadn't expected to have to fight again, she was still completely off balance and uncoordinated. A furious Kin suddenly filled her vision, hand reared back in preparation for a punch. Before Hinata could raise her hands in defense, Kin slammed a fist into her face; it felt nearly as powerful as the kick that had broken her nose, and for an instant, Hinata was worried that she'd lose her balance and collapse.

The Leaf kunoichi stumbled backwards, but she was fortunately able to maintain her fragile balance, and it was rapidly becoming easier to stand without wobbling. If nothing else, that small break in combat had helped her recover slightly. Kin, however, was now attacking with an animal-like savagery; she never even tried to reach for her weapons pouch, and instead used her bare hands. There was hardly any technique in her assault to speak of as she repeatedly clawed at Hinata's face with her nails, clubbed her over the head with her fists, and attempted to wrap her hands around her throat.

She might as well have forfeited.

Concentrating chakra into her hands, Hinata easily parried a blow and quickly struck Kin in the face with a Gentle Fist attack, and blue chakra flashed as the Sound Genin's head snapped backward. With her opponent's assault stopped for a second, the Hyuga quickly pulled a new kunai out of her pouch and slashed it across Kin's stomach. The kunoichi howled and doubled over; Hinata turned and struck her in the side of the head with another Gentle Fist attack with her free hand, then plunged the kunai into her thigh and released it. Had Hinata been at full strength, she could have ended the match right then; however, she needed to pause a second to catch her breath and focus her chakra, taking advantage of Kin's dazed state.

The Sound kunoichi now had a serious hindrance in moving, with both of her arms and one of her legs wounded. As soon as she reached for the kunai in her leg, Hinata unleashed a barrage of Gentle Fist attacks on her. Blue chakra flashed again and again as Hinata determinedly kept up her assault. Quickly running out of breath and feeling as if she were on the verge of collapse, she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to continue attacking through sheer willpower.

Kin took one wobbly step backwards after another, in shock from the severity of the assault and completely helpless. Hinata's attacks came faster and faster, until it almost seemed that there was an aura of blue chakra surrounding Kin. With a grunt, she finished her barrage with one last powerful blow to Kin's face, sending the Sound kunoichi flying backwards. Kin let out a cry of agony and crashed into the wall behind her, slumping to the floor, her hands landing idle beside her. She gave a weak moan and moved feebly, then went still.

For a very long moment, the proctor simply stared at the two of them. Finally, he walked over to Kin's body and inspected her, lightly slapping her on the cheek. After no response came, he stood up straight and pointed at Hinata.

"The winner of the match is Hinata Hyuga," he said. "She gets to advance to the final stage."

A burst of cheers exploded from behind Hinata. Her Byakugan deactivated, she couldn't see them for herself, but she could hear Naruto's and Sakura's voices. Even Rock Lee began cheering for her, for reasons Hinata couldn't fathom. He must have just been caught up in the excitement and felt like cheering himself. Looking at Kin's unconscious body, Hinata grinned widely and let out a small titter.

_Well, that was a close one_, she thought to herself, falling to her knees. She heard what sounded like footsteps running toward her from somewhere outside her field of vision. _Naruto was…finally able to see me…_ Darkness swallowed her up, and she collapsed.

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"Dammit, Kin!" Dosu muttered angrily to himself, watching the medics load the two unconscious kunoichis onto stretchers. "Why didn't you listen to me? You had the match wrapped up as soon as you got her with your bells, but you just had to mess it up. Hell, if only you could have at least stayed awake another minute, the Hyuga would have just passed out and you would have been the winner." He banged his fist against the rail in front of him in frustration. _Why does it feel as if I'm the only one who ever thinks things through?_

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"Woah," said Sakura. "I wasn't expecting that."

"She'll be fine," Kakashi said. "The medic-nins can heal her up good as new; within an hour she won't have a scratch on her."

"But still, the way she just fainted…" Naruto said, worry in his voice.

"Like I said, she'll be just fine. This was probably the hardest match she ever had to fight in," Kakashi explained. "She won, though."

"You were right, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, brightening up. "Hinata's a genius! A real genius!"

Kakashi grinned at him underneath his mask. "Of course I was right. I know you guys better than you know yourselves." He watched the stretcher bearing Hinata leave the room. "Well, I've got some business to attend to," he said to his Genin. "I'll try and get back as soon as I can."

"What business?" asked Sakura.

"Oh, you know, personal stuff," Kakashi replied, waving his hand in dismissal at her inquiry.

"Well, you better hurry up unless you want to miss my match!" Naruto said. He had been eager to fight from the beginning. Now that both of his teammates had already fought and won, he was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement.

"Right, I'll try," Kakashi promised. He walked down the balcony, heading for the stairs and the exit. As he left the arena, the electronic screen began choosing two more names to fight. He felt tempted to stay and see who would battle next, but thought better of it and left the room. His Genin could tell him later.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"An optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all possible worlds, and the pessimist fears this is true."

- James Cabell


	22. The Contestants Dwindle

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 22: The Contestants Dwindle_

"It's my turn!" Naruto yelled enthusiastically as the board dramatically flashed name after name. "It's gotta be me this time!"

"No!" Lee yelled. "I have waited long enough! I want to go, too!"

Sakura sighed and shook her head as they continued to yell. She had already finished her battle, and it wasn't exactly an enjoyable experience. Why did they want to go so badly?

_Boys…_ she thought, with a hint of affection.

Naruto suddenly groaned as Rock Lee hung his head in disappointment. Sakura looked up at the screen to see who had really been picked this time.

**Temari vs. Choji Akimichi**

_Well, look who it is… the broad from Sand._ As she looked at the two names, she couldn't decide whether she wanted to see Temari get beaten now or if she wanted to do it herself in the final round.Torn, she eventually decided it didn't matter. One way or another, Temari was going to get her ass kicked.

Temari looked awfully tall compared to the squat and chubby Choji when they faced each other in the center of the arena. She gave him a look bordering on disgust, placing her hands on her hips. Choji, meanwhile, had a stupid grin on his face as he looked at her.

"Are there any objections?" Hayate asked, as always.

"None," said Temari.

"Are you kidding me?" Choji asked happily. "I couldn't have asked for a better opponent! I get to fight a girl!"

Temari eyes flashed dangerously as she glared at Choji, who only grinned back gleefully.

"Umm, right," said Hayate. "Let−_koff_−the seventh match begin."

Choji merely stood there, apparently waiting for Temari to strike first. She displayed a disinterest in the match, inspecting her fingernails as the seconds dragged by. This was turning into a repetition of Shikamaru's battle.

After a minute, Temari looked up at Choji and glared. "Well, aren't you go to do anything?!" she snapped.

"Nope," Choji answered. "I'm just going to wait for you."

"What?! Why?!"

"I don't want to hurt you!" Choji answered arrogantly.

"Don't worry about that," Temari said angrily. "I doubt a fat tub of lard like you could lay a single finger on me!"

Choji suddenly went rigid, with his hands at his side slowly balling up into fists. A long moment passed as a cold chill seemed to sweep through the room. "What did you say?" he asked slowly.

"I said you were a fat tub of lard, fatso!" Temari snapped. Her hands rested on her hips indignantly as she continued to glare at her opponent. Choji glared right back, a vein bulging on his forehead.

"No one calls me fat!" he roared furiously. "No one! Not even a girl!"

"Oh, did I touch a nerve?" Temari asked in a falsely sympathetic voice. She quickly went back to her old tone. "Then why don't you get your fat ass moving and do something about it?!"

"I'm going to crush you!" Choji yelled. Enraged, he slammed his hands together to perform some sort of jutsu, and immediately inflated like a balloon. Turning to the size of a large boulder, he withdrew his head and limbs into his body, turning into a giant ball. Temari looked up at him, eyes wide in horror. She certainly hadn't been expecting _this_. Maybe when Choji said he didn't want to hurt her, he had really meant it.

He rolled towards her surprisingly quickly, propelling himself with chakra. Temari made as if to grab for the metal fan on her back, then thought better of it and dove out of Choji's way. She barely moved in time, as Choji rolled straight through the spot she had been standing mere seconds ago. He continued rolling until he ran into the stone wall, crashing into it. Debris flew in all directions, and a huge crater was left behind as he rolled out.

He aimed himself at Temari, then shot at her position. This time, Temari had enough time to pull out her fan before he could force her to move out of his way. She pulled it off her back and opened it about one third of the way, then swung it at Choji. A fierce gale suddenly blew, created by her fan. It swept Choji backwards, blowing him in the opposite direction. The wind kept up for about a second, then died out. Without anything to hinder him, Choji once again picked up speed and rolled towards her. The wind had been strong enough to slow him down, but it was nowhere nearly enough to completely halt him. Temari looked on, frustration flashing across her face as Choji's massive form once again loomed over her.

She had no recourse other than to leap out of the way once again, and he rolled right past her. As she jumped, Temari's grip on her metal fan slipped, and it flew in another direction. More than likely, her palms had been getting sweaty, and couldn't keep a tight hold on the sleek metal weapon. Cursing, she nimbly landed on her hands and jumped onto her feet, breaking into a sprint to recover her vital weapon. Unbeknownst to her, Choji had turned around without crashing into the wall, and was rapidly advancing on her.

She picked up her fan, and grinned. She hefted it up to rest on her shoulder, completely unaware that Choji was already right behind her. She turned her head around just in time to see him crash into her.

With a cry, she was brutally thrown forward, sent hurtling through the air. She lost her fan again, and it careened in another direction before landing several feet away from her. Temari bounced off the ground, but quickly climbed back to her feet. Some blood was trickling down her lips, and she quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand.

Choji had deflated himself, shrinking back to his normal proportions. He looked at Temari and grinned when he saw that she had been separated from her precious fan.

"Didn't I say you'd only get hurt if you let me go first?" Choji asked smugly. Temari scowled at him, and then quickly bolted towards her fan. A handful of kunais suddenly hit the ground right in front of her feet, and she slid to a stop. "I'm not stupid enough to let you get your fan back!" he said. He pulled out another kunai, and ran at her. Upon seeing him charge at her, Temari bent low and held her hands ready at her side.

_Why isn't she taking out a kunai of her own?_ Sakura wondered. The answer was quickly apparent. She _couldn't_. There wasn't a weapons pouch anywhere on her. Her only weapon was her metal fan, and she couldn't try and go for it lest she risk getting impaled by a thrown kunai. Choji's strategy also made sense. If he had wasted time expanding and rolling towards her, she would have been able to get her fan back and blow him away with it. By charging at her normally, he had effectively pinned her down. _How's Temari going to get herself out of this one?_

Choji let out a cry as he reached her, arm reared back to stab her with his weapon. His charge was halted when Temari suddenly swept her foot up, kicking him in the chin. He didn't release his kunai, though he did fall backwards on wobbly feet. He dizzily stumbled back towards her, and she threw a right hook to his jaw followed by a jab to his stomach. He doubled over, and she threw a powerful uppercut. As he stood in place, disoriented, she finished her combo off by tucking her arm into her chest and ramming her elbow into his face. Blood flew into the air and he fell over onto his back. As he lay unmoving, Temari put her hands back on her hips and looked down at him scornfully.

_I guess she's as dangerous up close as she is from far away…_ Sakura thought. _Something to keep in mind…_

"You might as well call the match," Temari said. "He's not getting up again."

Hayate looked between her and Choji, coughing. "The winner is−"

"No!" Choji suddenly yelled. He groaned and got up into a sitting position. Blood was all over his face. "I can still fight!"

Hayate looked at him in surprise. "Umm, right. The match will continue."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Temari said exasperatedly, shaking her head. Choji grunted and stood up, wiping the blood away. Temari casually strode over to her metal fan and picked it up. "Let's get this over with, tubby."

Choji angrily reached into his weapons pouch and flung a handful of shurikens at her, which she quickly deflected with her fan. Choji took a step forward as if he were going to charge her, then thought better of it and stopped. He was really in a tight spot now. If he expanded, she would just blow him away again. If he tried to get in close, she'd beat the hell out of him. Apparently, he came up with a compromise, grabbing handfuls of shurikens and kunais. "Let's see you block all of these!"

Temari smirked as he threw all of them at her. Instead of using her fan as a shield, she opened it two-thirds of the way and flapped it, blowing all of Choji's weapons out of the way. Two blue circle designs were now visible on her fan. Choji looked at her in dismay.

_Is she… invulnerable?_ Sakura thought worriedly. _If I have to fight her, what the hell am I going to do?_

"I was hoping I could save this for later, but…" Choji muttered looking at Temari. He pulled out a long metal wire with a bunch of kunais connected to it and wrapped it around himself, then slammed his hands together and expanded. He tucked his head and limbs back in again, becoming a huge spikeball. He rolled towards Temari at great speed, who only looked up at him and grinned.

"You lose, tubby," she said happily. He shot towards her, and she quickly hopped out of the way. For some reason, she hadn't blown him away with her fan like last time. What was she planning?

She ran to keep up with Choji as he approached the wall. When he got near, she whipped out her fan and opened it the whole way, revealing three blue circles. Choji seemed to sense that he had missed his target and began slowing down, but he was far too late. Temari flapped her fan for a third time, creating a gust several times more powerful than the one before. It propelled Choji into the wall with great force, and he crashed into it far more violently than he would have if he had rolled into it by himself. He created another huge crater and rebound backwards, bouncing off the ground like a rubber ball several times before he collapsed and deflated. The metal wire was in shambles, and several of the kunais had stabbed him. As he struggled to climb back up, Temari grinned happily.

"This match is over," she stated smugly. She flapped her fan a final time, creating a huge vortex of wind. It picked up a horrified Choji, catapulting him into the air and holding him there. The vortex viciously slashed at him, cutting his skin as he screamed over the roar of the wind.

_Temari's chakra is controlling the vortex_, Sakura realized, looking at it. It was operating far too well for it to be mere chance that it had picked up Choji and continued tearing at him. It gradually died away, and Choji fell to the ground. He didn't move, and Temari folded her fan back up before replacing it on her back.

"You might as well have ended the match when I told you to," she said. She turned and began walking towards the stairs before Hayate could even declare her the winner.

He looked at Choji's still form, seemingly hoping that he would get up one more time. When that didn't happen, he sighed and spoke up. "Temari is the winner," he declared. "She advances to the final stage."

Sakura looked at the Sand kunoichi with unease. It looked like having to fight the contestants in the final round wasn't going to be easy.

Medics went into the arena and carried Choji away as Temari rejoined her teammates. The electronic board began selecting two more names as Naruto looked up at it hopefully. It finally chose two fighters, and he hung his head dismay.

**Tenten vs. Kinuta Dosu**

Rock Lee and Guy began cheering for her as she walked down into the arena, while Dosu grabbed onto the rail and gracefully leaped down. Guy and Lee's chanting quickly annoyed Naruto, who covered his ears in irritation.

The two applicants squared off as Hayate stood between them.

"Any objections?" he asked.

"No," they both said calmly.

"Then let the eighth match begin," he commanded, stepping out of the way.

Tenten stepped back into a defensive stance as Dosu stared at her with his single eye.

"Ladies first," he said simply.

"If you insist…" Tenten leaped high into the air, pulling out a handful of shurikens. She threw them at Dosu with deadly accuracy, aiming straight for his head and chest. He quickly brought his arm up, pulling back his sleeve and revealing the metal device he wore. Using it as a shield, he successfully blocked all of the shurikens from hitting him, and they bounced off with a clang. Tenten landed back on her feet, her brow furrowed as she looked at him. She began reaching for more weapons, but Dosu suddenly ran straight at her, arms lagging behind him.

She followed through and threw a kunai at him, but he quickly pulled out one of his own and deflected it, sending it flying harmlessly in another direction. Before she could reach for another one, he was upon her, and he threw his hand at her in a sweeping punch aimed at her face.

Tenten swiftly raised her own arm in defense, blocking Dosu's attack with her forearm. Not skipping a beat, Dosu took the kunai in his other hand and jabbed it at her, but she quickly grabbed his wrist and stopped him. Locked together, the two combatants fiercely glared at each other for a moment. Then, without warning, Tenten's grip on his wrist weakened, releasing him, and raised arm fell to her side. She wobbled slightly, and Dosu suddenly headbutted her, banging his headband against hers. She stepped backwards and cried out in pain, grabbing at her forehead.

Even as she stood on her legs unsteadily, Tenten glared at Dosu and reached into her weapons pouch. Carefree, Dosu walked up to her as she struggled to focus on him, then reared back and kicked her in the gut with his heel. She let out a groan and fell to her knees. He stood over her, unconcerned that she might lash out at him.

_This is a lot like Hinata's fight_, Sakura realized. _He must be doing something to mess up her balance, but I can't hear any ringing…_

As Tenten stared up at her opponent, her face suddenly turned a sickly green. She leaned over and vomited, creating a mess at Dosu's feet.

"This is really pathetic," the Sound Genin commented. "I have to admit, I was expecting a bit more from an experienced Genin like you. But I guess it's just not your lucky day… I'm not here to play around."

Tenten struggled to stand up, and Dosu reared his arm back. He swiftly brought it down in a sweeping blow, banging his metal device against her temple. She let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground. As she lay unmoving, Dosu nudged her with his foot, turning her over.

"Pitiful…" he muttered. Hayate walked over to Tenten and bent over to check her, making sure that she was incapable of fighting. Eventually, he stood up and pointed at Dosu.

"Kinuta Dosu is the winner, and he will advance to the final round," he stated. The Sound ninja calmly walked back up the stairs, returning to where the defeated Zaku stood waiting. Medics quickly carried Tenten away, clearing the arena.

"That was…" Lee murmured. "If only she had gone at her enemy with her full strength from the beginning, she would have won!"

"She'll recover from this defeat," Guy said reassuringly. "She has the power of youth! She'll emerge from these exams even stronger than before!"

"You are right as always, Guy-sensei!" Rock Lee said happily. "Every defeat is the gateway to a new victory!"

_But this defeat was just pathetic_, Sakura thought. _This had to have been the shortest match out of all the preliminaries so far…_

"Next match," Hayate called out. The board complied, and names began flashing once again. Suddenly, Sakura realized that there were only four applicants remaining.

_Naruto, Lee, Shino, and that weird Gaara kid… Who's going to fight next?_ She looked up at the board nervously. Only the toughest fighters were left by now, and worry flooded her. Whoever Naruto fought, it wasn't going to be an easy victory. Anxious, she stared up at the board, waiting for it to finally pick two names.

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Kakashi and Kurenai stood together in the medical wing, gazing at all the injured Genin before them. Yoroi, Sasuke, Ino, Kiba and Akamaru, Neji, Kin, Hinata, and Choji all lay in separate beds, some of them with respirators on their faces. Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata were indeed special cases. All three of them had won their matches, and hadn't sustained serious injuries. However, their cursed seals had been sealed away using a powerful jutsu, and they were going to need some bedrest to recover from that ordeal.

Kurenai had taken care of her student Sasuke and Hinata, while Kakashi had sealed Neji. Even as they stood there, Tenten was carried into the room on a stretcher by two medics. They pushed past the two Jonin and laid her down on an empty bed.

"I wonder how the fights are going," Kurenai murmured.

"So far, no one's been killed," Kakashi answered. "That's pretty good for me."

"That's true," she admitted. She was silent for a moment. "Why do you think he's come back? After all these years?" she asked quietly.

"The only reason I can think of is that he's planning something big," Kakashi said. "To come after three Genin with bloodline limits, then give them a curse seal… It's a damn miracle that they're all fine. Anko was the only survivor out of ten of Orochimaru's test subjects. And judging by what he told her in the Forest of Death, it sounds an awful lot like he's planning to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village."

"That's awfully ambitious, even for him," Kurenai said. "But still, I can't think of any other reason, either… I guess that the only thing we can do is be prepared. Perhaps send the Fire Lord a request to move a division of soldiers to help us defend in case of attack."

"I doubt that would be very effective," Kakashi said. "Such an overt maneuver would certainly alert Orochimaru. We will just have to maintain a heightened sense of alert."

"Something else that's been making me nervous… both Sasuke and Hinata told me that Orochimaru claimed to have come from the Hidden Sound Village."

"Neji told me the same thing when I asked him. What of it?"

"The Empire of Sound is a very strange country. It's very secretive, and is supposedly busy raising its military strength, though we can't measure by how much. On top of that, we've noticed very important figures from other countries gathering there, such as the Kages. And not only is the Sound Village a relatively new institution, but the old daimyou was overthrown by the so-called Otokage. If you look at everything, it seems an awful lot like…"

"…Orochimaru created the Sound Village, and he's crowned himself emperor of an entire country," Kakashi finished for her. He nodded his head. "Though we can't be sure about this, we also can't put Orochimaru past it. The thing he desires most in the world is power. Though I have to say, I find it doubtful that any of the Great Shinobi Nations would see fit to engage in diplomacy with a common criminal like him."

"That's what scares me the most," Kurenai said. "Let's go out on a limb and say that Orochimaru _is_ Emperor of Sound. What would he have to offer them? The only thing I can think of is that he's promised them something that they want very badly." When Kakashi didn't finish her hypothesis for her, she continued. "A chance for all of them to gang up on us."

"It's the only thing that would make sense," Kakashi conceded. "But like I said, we can't start jumping to conclusions and make wild claims."

"But it sure is time to start worrying," Kurenai argued. "In the worst case scenario, he's already got them in an alliance against us."

"Need I remind you, both Wind and Sound have signed the _Treaty of Alliance_?" Kakashi said. "Why would Orochimaru sign it? And if he did, why would Wind betray us?"

"Well, maybe not Wind," Kurenai said. "But signing the treaty might just have been part of Orochimaru's master plan, and make us drop our guard."

Kakashi sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. The only thing we can do is wait and see."

"I guess you're right…"

"Come on, let's go see how the preliminaries are going," Kakashi suggested. "I promised Naruto that I wouldn't miss his fight."

"Sure," Kurenai said, and the two headed out of the medical wing, leaving the Genin behind. "Well, it seems that both of your kunoichis have made it past the preliminaries. Can your only boy keep up?"

"Oh, I'm sure he can," Kakashi said confidently. He liked the change of subject. After all, what were the Chunin Exams good for other than giving the Jonin bragging rights?

"Even though he had the worst grades in the Academy?"

"Certainly. You'd be amazed at how much he's grown…"

"If you say so," Kurenai replied.

"How about your team?" Kakashi asked. "So far, Sasuke has won and Kiba has lost. How about Shino? How do you think he'll do?"

Kurenai looked slightly upset when he mentioned Kiba's loss. "First of all, Kiba's a very good ninja," she stated. "I guarantee you, if he had fought anyone other than Neji, he would have won."

"If you say so," Kakashi said, mimicking her. "And Shino? Do you have as much confidence in him as you do in your other Genin?"

"Kakashi…" she said slowly. A grin was playing at her lips. "You saw how Kiba did. And I have a Genin with the legendary Uchiha blood running through him. Their obvious skill is not debatable; they're good. Even with all that, I have to say that Shino is the most capable Genin I've ever come across. He won't lose."

"That confident, huh?"

"More than you can imagine," she responded. "You better pray that your boy Naruto gets anyone other than him. And I mean _anyone_."

"Really?" asked Kakashi. "Well, we'll see." He grinned underneath his mask. He was about to tell her the exact same thing. One way or another, no matter who Naruto fought, he was going to pass on to the final stage. Of that, he was sure.

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**Naruto Uzumaki vs. Shino Aburame**

"Yes!" Naruto cheered, pumping his fist into the air. At last, his fight was here! Lee let out a frustrated growl next to him.

"Why do I have to fight last?" he complained. "I am stuck fighting that Genin from Sand…"

Naruto had never cared who he was going to fight. He just wanted a chance to prove himself in front of everyone who ever doubted him, and go on to become a Chunin. He only regretted that Hinata wasn't going to be there to watch him win his match. He let out another cheer and began to head down the balcony.

"Naruto…" Sakura suddenly stopped him, grabbing him by the sleeve of his jacket. He turned to look at her. She had an awfully worried expression on her face, much to his puzzlement. "I think that Shino's pretty tough," she continued. "Watch your step out there."

"Come on, Sakura!" Naruto reassured her cheerfully. "It's me you're talking to! I'm not about to lose!"

Sakura managed a small smile at his words, then nodded and released him. He grinned back, and turned to grab onto the rail, jumping over it and landing on his feet in the arena below with a _clap_. The rush of wind as he descended felt good, waking him up and getting him into the right mindset for battle. He walked over to the center of the arena, where Hayate and Shino stood waiting.

He didn't know Shino very well. He had always been the quiet one, along with Hinata, back in the Academy. The only thing he remembered about Shino was that he always seemed to be playing near an anthill or a beehive during the freetime students had, which he just took to be a weird habit. As he walked up to him, Shino had his hands shoved into the pockets of his jacket, staring at him emotionlessly through his dark sunglasses. Was he as strong as Sakura feared? Naruto was certainly getting a strange feeling of dread the closer he walked to his opponent, but he just took it as his nerves acting up.

He stopped as he soon as he stood across from him, facing off. Hayate looked between them, then raised his arm into the air.

"Are there any objections to this battle?"

"No," said Shino in a quiet voice.

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed. Shino's brow raised slightly at his excited outburst, but he didn't speak. What did it matter? Finally, after so long, Naruto was going to be able to prove to everyone that he wasn't the same loser who flunked every test in the Academy.

Hayate looked at the two of them and nodded his head. "Right. Then, let the ninth match… begin."

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**Quote of the Day:**

"He called me a rapist and a recluse. I'm not a recluse."

- Mike Tyson


	23. Achieving Heaven and Earth

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 23: Achieving Heaven and Earth_

Kakashi and Kurenai strode back into the arena, then stopped in their tracks as soon as they saw who was fighting.

"Well well," said Kurenai, grinning. "It looks like this fight is personal now."

"I guess it does…" The two continued walking, hurrying up the stairs and onto the balcony. They made it to where Sakura was standing just as Hayate commanded for the match to begin.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei!" exclaimed Sakura, turning around to look at him and Kurenai. "You made it back just in time!"

"Yeah," he replied. "Sorry I couldn't get here any sooner."

"The only thing you got back in time for was watching Naruto lose," Kurenai said. "There's no way he could have gotten good enough to beat Shino."

"You could be right," admitted Kakashi. "But you're most likely wrong." Kurenai scowled.

"Come on, let's just watch the match!" Sakura said impatiently, looking down into the arena.

"Good idea," agreed Kakashi, turning away from Kurenai. They quit arguing and fell silent, concentrating on the two Genin below.

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Naruto's hand wavered next to his weapons pouch as he watched Shino warily. He had no idea just how strong his opponent was, so logic dictated that he ought to let him have the first move. _Rushing into things has only gotten me into trouble, and my teammates had to pull me out of it. I can't risk that here…_

Shino continued to stare at him, withdrawing his hands from his pockets. Naruto's heart was beating like crazy. Why the anxiety?

"Naruto," Shino suddenly addressed him. He blinked and looked at him. "Members of the Aburame Clan don't mock their opponents, regardless of how weak they perceive them to be. When I fight you, I won't hold back. However… no matter what happens, I have nothing against you. We're only fighting because we have to."

"Yeah," said Naruto. He never took his eyes off Shino. In fact, he was quickly becoming suspicious that this was some sort of diversion, though Shino hadn't moved from his spot. His opponent fell silent, arms idle at his side. Naruto reached into his weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. Gripping its handle, he raised it level with his chest in defense. "Your move," he said.

"My first move will be my last," Shino said.

"Then I guess I'll have to make sure you don't make any moves," Naruto said, grinning. He twirled the kunai in his hand so that it pointed at Shino. Even as he grinned, his mind was working furiously as he tried to figure out what to do. He had absolutely no idea what Shino's strengths were, or even what his preferred fighting style was. Ninjutsu? Taijutsu? Genjutsu? If anything, Shino looked like the genjutsu type, judging by his mysterious appearance and unwillingness to go first. If that was the case, then it would be a good idea to go straight for his opponent and not screw around. But what if he turned out to be a taijutsu specialist?

_Think, dammit!_ Naruto thought, frustrated. _If I screw up at the very beginning, it could decide the outcome. I really should make Shino go first, but it's obvious that he's not going to move until I do. If he was, he would have gone straight for me from the beginning. How should I attack him? With Shadow Clones? Maybe I could try a taijutsu move. I wish I had something useful to help me, like Kiba's smoke bombs and food pills…_

He wasn't sure how long he stood there, trying to come up with a strategy, but it was long enough to get some of the spectators restless. Finally, Naruto decided on a maneuver on the spot. _I'll try to make my first move my last, too. Then I won't have to worry about Shino's style._

He grabbed a shuriken from his weapons pouch with his free hand, and quickly prepared to throw it, at the same time gathering chakra into the soles of his feet. He threw the shuriken and it flashed in the air as it flew at Shino; even as he was preparing to block it, Naruto bolted from his standing position, pulling out a second kunai.

Shino rapidly produced a kunai of his own and raised it, deflecting the shuriken before it could hit him. But it had kept him busy for just long enough to suit Naruto's needs. He had rapidly charged at Shino and was already about to reach him before he even noticed Naruto was on the move. Shino quickly turned raised his kunai in defense, and that's when Naruto threw in a twist to his attack.

Instead of trying to crash into Shino, he threw his feet out from under himself, dropping into a slide. Sticking both of his kunais out, he aimed himself to slide between Shino's legs, moving at great speed. Shino visibly prepared himself to jump out of the way, bending his knees and gathering chakra into his feet. Unprepared to defend himself at such a low point, his only option was evasion; however, he had a late start, and Naruto was moving far too fast.

In the instant before Shino launched himself into the air, Naruto slid through his legs, slashing both of them as he shot past. Instead of flying straight into the air, Shino made a weak jump and fell forward, landing on his stomach. Blood was covering his pants; the kunais had cut deep. Luckily for Shino, Naruto hadn't cut any arteries or tendons, and he quickly climbed back to his feet.

Naruto was also back on his feet, and blood dripped from his kunais. Determined, he once again bolted at Shino, trying to knock him down and finish him off. So far, everything was going according to plan. Before Naruto could reach his opponent, Shino quickly raised arms into the air, palms facing outward. As Naruto ran closer, a black cloud suddenly shot out from Shino's sleeves and shot towards him.

"What the—" Naruto slid to a halt, and the moving black cloud swept across the room towards him. Before he could figure out what it was, it was suddenly all over him, nearly bowling him off his feet and obscuring his vision. It was a living cloud of black insects, and they fiercely stuck to him no matter how hard he swiped at them. The longer he stood there, the more of his energy he felt being drained.

_They must suck up my chakra… like parasites!_

He had no sooner formed that thought in his mind than a fist suddenly slammed into his jaw from outside of the cloud. Releasing his kunais, he flew backwards with a cry of pain, sliding on his back for several feet before slowing to a halt.

As he climbed to his feet, he took one look at his opponent and gasped. Shino stood where he had been a moment before, and the cloud of insects was beginning to disperse. Black bugs were streaming down Shino's clothes and forming a dark horde at his feet, which was only getting even bigger as Naruto looked on.

_He…controls bugs?!_ Naruto thought wildly._ I knew that everyone in this Exam was a freak, but it's just my luck that I had to get stuck fighting the biggest one!_

Shino suddenly stopped standing in place, leaving the carpet of bugs behind, and charged at Naruto, who crouched and prepared himself for another attack. Shino ran slightly slower than Naruto would have expected, probably due to the wounds he had inflicted. That extra instant gave Naruto enough time to prepare to make an attack of his own, instead of just raising his arms in defense. He quickly reached for his weapons pouch and grabbed another kunai.

He swung his kunai as soon as Shino reached him, trying to slash it across his chest. Shino swerved on his feet and dodged it, swinging his fist at Naruto's face in a swift counter-attack. Naruto was off-balance and had barely any time to react; he hadn't been expecting to miss, let alone having Shino trying to hit back.

He quickly ducked and reared his head back to avoid the blow. He barely made it. Shino's fist grazed the surface of his forehead protector, making a tiny, nearly inaudible squeak as skin brushed against metal.

Naruto, still unbalanced, fell backwards and stuck his hands out to catch himself. Turning his predicament into an advantage, he quickly stuck his leg out and shifted his weight to launch a sweeping kick aimed at Shino's ankles. Despite being handicapped, Shino was able to jump over Naruto's leg and avoided being knocked over, then leaped backwards and out of Naruto's range.

Even as Naruto was climbing back onto his feet, Shino's horde of insects began crawling in his direction. It hardly made any sense; it didn't look like Shino had commanded them to do anything. And they had been perfectly still until Shino had attacked him. He was about to raise the kunai in his hand in defense, then realized that was stupid. A single blade was of no use against a veritable carpet of small bugs. He stood there, clueless, and the bugs were only getting closer.

_What the hell can I do against so many bugs?_ he thought desperately. _The only thing I can do to win is go straight for Shino. But how can I do that if the bugs are in the way? They'll suck my chakra dry… Unless… they can't find me!_

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he yelled, forming the proper seal with his hands. A dozen shadow clones suddenly appeared next to him in a puff of white smoke, hands raised and ready for battle. If Shino was surprised to see that Naruto had learned such an advanced technique, he didn't show it. He gazed at him from behind his dark glasses, but didn't express any emotion.

As one, Naruto and his clones suddenly spread themselves out in a circle around Shino, switching places several times so that Naruto would be indistinguishable from his copies. The bugs stopped in their tracks and began to split up, seemingly confused. Naruto grinned to himself; it had worked.

However, even as he prepared himself to charge at Shino, the mass of insects corrected itself and began moving as a single unit towards a single target. They knew that he was the real one, and were heading straight for him, completely ignoring the dozen other replicas. Cursing inwardly, he realized that he must have not put enough effort into hiding himself. He wouldn't be able to attack Shino… but that didn't mean his clones couldn't.

As soon as the bugs had moved and made an opening, the shadow clones had seized the opportunity to charge Shino directly. Even as he tried to figure out how he was going to get away from the moving bugs, he couldn't help but grin as the clones closed in on Shino. His grin slipped away in a hurry when Shino handily dispatched the clones one at a time as they piled on top of him. Shino made very good use of all his limbs as he punched, elbowed, kneed, and kicked the shadow clones, making them disappear in puffs of smoke. It seemed that he didn't need the bugs for protection; he could take care of himself just fine. In no time at all, each of the clones had been destroyed without landing so much as a punch on him.

Naruto walked farther and farther back as the carpet of insects moved closer to him, a nauseous sensation of dread beginning to cloud his mind. It was so early in the battle, yet things were already beginning to look hopeless. He continued walking backwards dizzily, trying to come back to his senses. Sooner or later, the bugs were going to completely corner him.

He had a severe lack of options at this point. He couldn't reach Shino, he couldn't kill the bugs, and any shadow clones he made would probably be swallowed up by the horde. Being pushed farther and farther back, his mind worked furiously to come up with some sort of plan. He quickly found that this wasn't a great strength of his. What usually happened was that he would get angry, act on impulse, then get lucky. However, it looked like it would be impossible to simply get lucky with Shino; he had no apparent weaknesses and was leaving nothing to chance.

Naruto nearly tripped as he walked backwards, stumbling on a piece of rubble from Choji's fight. He quickly managed to steady himself and regain his balance, naturally turning his head to look behind him to see what he had stepped on. He blinked and looked on in horror, not wanting to believe what his eyes were seeing. It had to be an illusion, there was no way...

A second carpet of insects was behind him, and advancing even faster than the one in front. Together, they were quickly blocking any hope of escape. Somehow, Shino had managed to send out another mass of bugs when Naruto wasn't looking, and cunningly commanded it to swing around behind him. If he hadn't tripped on that small rock, then he would have simply continued walking backwards until the bugs were all over him. The battle would have been over.

As it was, it was going to be a very close escape. The dual black carpets swarmed closer and closer. Looking over his shoulder, Naruto looked at the nearest wall and made a quick estimate, then hastily clapped his hands together, folding the fingers as he concentrated chakra into his feet.

_Let's just hope this works!_ he thought desperately, and leaped into the air. He barely avoided being consumed by the black mass of bugs behind him; they swarmed over the spot he had been standing less than a second before.

He flew backwards through the air, facing the ceiling as he glided. Time seemed to pass slowly for some reason, and the wind whipped across his body, ruffling his jacket. Acting on instinct, he bent his knees and tucked his arms and legs in, shifting his weight and flipping over in midair. He quickly adjusted his weight yet again, ensuring that he wouldn't get caught in a spiraling tumble to the ground. Now facing the ground as he flew, and he once again made a quick estimate of his exact location and his speed.

He shot his legs out just in time for his feet to connect with the wall behind him; using chakra, he stuck to it like a magnet. A triumphant grin on his face, he stretched his arms out and gazed down at where Shino stood looking up at him stoically. The bugs seemed to have become confused by Naruto's sudden disappearance, converging over the spot he had been standing on repeatedly, as if they had lost his scent or something.

_That_, thought Naruto, _was a close one_. He quickly realized that he now had an opening. The bugs couldn't get to him, and they were in no position to protect Shino. Naruto was in a perfect position to launch a new attack.

Twirling the kunai in his hand between his fingers, he gripped its handle and bent his knees. He hurled the kunai at Shino, and jumped off the wall, aiming himself at his opponent. The last time he had tried this, it had worked out pretty good; now that he was attacking from a different direction and angle, Shino wouldn't be able to quickly predict what his plan was, or where he was planning to attack.

Shino quickly blocked and deflected Naruto's kunai with his own, as it was flying too fast for him to risk trying to move out of the way. Fist extended, Naruto was quickly closing in on his target, aiming straight for Shino's torso. There was only one small problem he was facing. Gliding through the air the way he was, he wouldn't be able to easily adjust his aim and change course if Shino were to jump or step out of the way. And there was no way he could defend himself if Shino were to move to attack first.

He flew straight at Shino's position, ready to crash into him. Unfortunately, Shino was prepared to handle this kind of attack. Whether he had learned from the first time or Naruto had merely gotten lucky with his first move, the blond couldn't guess. Either way, Shino quickly swerved out of Naruto's path in the split second before Naruto reached him. Instead of landing a crushing blow into his opponent, Naruto instead felt himself forced to a halt as Shino's fist shot out and collided with his stomach. The timing couldn't have been more precise.

Naruto had been flying so fast, he was flipped over by the sudden shift in balance, landing on his back behind Shino. Winded, he gasped for breath and dizzily tried to get reoriented. With a groan, he clawed at the ground and scrambled into a sitting position. He turned around and saw the bugs once again coming after him as Shino stood to the side, apparently unwilling to continue fighting in close quarters. Was this a legitimate weakness, or simply a personal preference?

Naruto didn't have time to worry about that. He coughed and groaned again, this time unsteadily climbing to his feet as the huge carpet of insects rapidly advanced towards him. Despite getting so lucky earlier and finding an opening, Naruto was finding himself in the exact same situation as before. The bugs would try to maneuver him into a corner, and he would be unable to attack them or Shino. Sure, he could try jumping onto the wall and launch himself at Shino a second time, but that had no real chance of working. His opponent had figured him out and was onto him.

Walking backwards yet again, Naruto repeatedly looked behind his shoulder nervously as he tried to come up with a plan. No second carpet was waiting to ambush him from behind, but that was pretty much to be expected. Shino didn't seem the type to try the same trap twice and hope he got lucky.

Desperately, Naruto pulled out a handful of shurikens and hurled them at Shino. Shino easily blocked them with his kunai, sending them flying off in multiple directions. Unthinking, Naruto threw a second handful of weapons as he walked farther backwards. It was incredibly unlikely to work, but he had virtually no other options at the moment. When Shino blocked them, he forced himself to quit and think.

Looking at the bugs, he realized that he wasn't cornered just yet: there were two wide gaps between the huge carpet and the nearest wall on either side of him. Stumbling slightly, he bolted towards the space left open to his left, trying to escape the noose that was slowly choking him off. Before he was within ten feet of it, the insects nearest to the gap suddenly picked up speed and raced to the wall, fencing him in.

Sliding to a halt, he swiveled and looked over at the opposite side. The bugs had sped up and occupied the empty space there, as well. It appeared that Shino had commanded them to do so; otherwise, they would have blindly chased after Naruto without worrying about trying to trap him into a tight space. And now, Naruto was indeed trapped.

Stuck inside a semicircle roughly seven by seven meters, it was getting even smaller with each passing second. His brain working on overload, he slowly backed up against the wall, only stopping when his shoulders bumped into it. He realized that he had only two options now. He could gather chakra to his feet and climb up the wall, or he could… try something else.

Without any real plan, he suddenly slammed his hands together and crossed his fingers, forming a seal.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A handful of white clouds suddenly poofed into existence next to him, and they quickly dispersed to reveal his clones. As they waited next to him, Naruto stood clueless. He had no idea why he'd created them in the first place, let alone what he was going to do with them. They all began to unconsciously huddle closer to each other as the bugs closed in.

Suddenly coming up with an idea, he wordlessly sent out a command to all of them, which they immediately obeyed. They all took off in different directions, running straight into the horde of bugs trapping them. It was suicide; they barely made five steps before they were completely swamped, with the insects crawling up their legs. They sucked the chakra out of each clone they had climbed onto until it disappeared in a puff of smoke. Very quickly, all of the clones had been destroyed, with none of them making it all the way through.

That was the only thing Naruto had been trying to figure out. Without actually exposing himself to harm, Naruto had been testing if he would be able to make it all the way to Shino. The bugs had been slowed down slightly as they had gathered around the clones, but were now continuing to advance towards him. Now, he had to come up with a new plan. Acting on impulse again wouldn't help.

Gathering chakra into the soles of his feet, he slowly began walking backwards up the wall, standing parallel to the ground below. It was slightly disorienting at first, but he quickly got used to it and steadied himself. The huge mass of insects quickly took up the space left behind on the ground, crashing into the wall like some sort of living tidal wave.

Even as Naruto watched, the bugs began crawling up the wall towards him. They could climb walls, too. There really was no safe place from them. Still not coming up with a plan, Naruto did the only logical thing he could do. He quickly began running along the wall, escaping the approaching bugs and heading to the other side of the room. He realized that this was all he would have to do to escape them should he ever find himself cornered again. Tucking that vital piece of information away to a dark corner of his mind, he continued his frantic search for a plan.

If only he had brains like Shikamaru, he probably would have found some fancy way of turning Shino's own bugs against him, or something else clever. Unfortunately for Naruto, all he really had were his fists and incredible stamina. That would be nowhere nearly enough to take on Shino.

Naruto hopped off the wall, seeing that he now had an opening to attack Shino; the bugs were lagging behind again, with some of them trying to follow his path along the wall while others tried to cut him off from the ground. Charging at Shino, he reached for a kunai and yanked it out. He was beginning to notice a trend: ever since he had failed to take out his opponent in a single move, the fight had been going downhill for him. He had to end it as fast as possible… preferably now.

He bolted towards Shino, kunai ready and preparing himself for a brutal fight. He never even got the chance to use it. Shino quickly stretched out his free arm, facing his palm towards the approaching Naruto. He realized what Shino was doing a split second before it actually happened, allowing him a tiny amount of time to react.

A large black cloud of flies flew out from Shino's sleeve towards Naruto, who quickly dropped into a dive, evading it as it shot above his head. He hadn't guessed that diving would prove to be a valuable evasion technique; he had only ever tried using it to attack. He was too far away from Shino to continue sliding in an attack, but he doubted that it would work on him anyway.

The cloud disappeared behind him, with the flies taking off in multiple directions, confused when they didn't hit a suitable energy source. Naruto swiftly sprang to his feet and renewed his charge at Shino, raising his kunai. Shino didn't appear to have been expecting Naruto to have dodged his fly attack, and didn't have any time to send another. His carpet of insects was on the other side of the arena and wouldn't be able to create a defensive barrier for him. He quickly raised his own kunai in defense as Naruto reached him.

Naruto reared his arm back, then reached up with his free hand to grip the kunai's handle as well, holding it with both of his hands. He swung it at Shino as if it were a huge sword instead of a tiny blade, giving twice as much power to the blow. Shino tried blocking it with his own kunai, but he was only holding his with one hand, and didn't have enough strength behind it to deflect Naruto's ferocious assault.

When Naruto's blade connected with it, Shino nearly dropped it and his arm shook violently as he stumbled backwards. Naruto reared his arms back for a second attack, and Shino quickly began holding onto his kunai with both hands as soon as he regained his balance.

With another mighty swing, Naruto's kunai crashed into Shino's. Shino was only barely able to hold on, nearly losing his grip and stepping backwards yet again. However, he managed to retain his balance, something that Naruto wasn't able to do. As Naruto prepared to deliver another attack, Shino lashed out against him with one of his own.

It was dangerously close, and Naruto was able to step backwards and out of the blade's way just in time. Instead of carving a deep gash into Naruto's chest, it cut into his orange jacket, only stopping when his metal zipper prevented it from cutting any further. Shino quickly withdrew it and swung at Naruto again, who was barely able to raise his own kunai to deflect it in time. It glanced off, but Shino pushed forward and swiped it at Naruto yet again.

He was using only one hand to hold and swing his kunai, something that Naruto quickly noticed. It didn't carry as much power behind it as Naruto's two-handed style, but it allowed Shino to attack repeatedly and didn't cause him to lose his balance. Shino's style of attack had a precise, calculated feel to it, as if he had given deep thought to each swing before he actually performed it. That, of course, was absurd; there was only split second interval between each attack, and Shino wouldn't have enough time to meditate on where to attack next. Even so, the illusion remained.

Puzzling to Naruto, however, Shino didn't appear to be aiming for any of his vital spots, such as his head or neck. There were several instances where Naruto accidentally left a spot completely vulnerable, but Shino either ignored it or didn't notice and aimed for some other area. Whatever the reason, he was hard enough to deal with as it was; it would have been far worse if he had taken advantage of the openings Naruto left.

Even as Naruto continued to successfully defend himself, he realized that he still had to take Shino out as quickly as possible. To do that, he was going to have to go on the offensive, not just stand there and deflect each of Shino's attacks. There was no opening with which Naruto could exploit, however. Shino's attacks came one after another, far too quick for him to launch a counter-attack. If no opening could be found, then he was just going to have to make one.

Shino swung his blade downwards at Naruto as if it were an axe, trying to shake up his pattern of attack and catch Naruto off guard. Naruto quickly sidestepped it, causing Shino to miss completely rather than having his blow deflected. It caused him to slightly lose his balance and lean forward, making him unprepared to defend against any attack Naruto might send his way. It was exactly the kind of opportunity Naruto had been waiting for. He took quickly advantage of it and rammed his shoulder into Shino's chest, sending his opponent off his feet and falling onto his back.

This was the best possible opening that Naruto could have hoped for. Gripping his kunai tightly, he swiftly charged at the spot where Shino lay. He appeared to have been dazed, and hardly moved except to claw at the ground in what appeared to be a desperate attempt to get back up. Preparing to finally end this match, Naruto continued to blindly run at Shino, determined to make sure he wouldn't be getting up again.

Naruto got within attacking distance of Shino, and all at once his opponent stopped clawing at the ground like some sort of rabid animal. Arms idle, without warning he suddenly bent his knees as if he were about to attempt hopping to his feet. Instead, as soon as Naruto came close enough, he quickly extended them outwards in a brutal two-pronged kick that caught Naruto right in the kneecaps.

This was not like most attacks. It was completely sudden and he had no way to prepare for it; its effects were immediate. Filled with an agonizing pain, Naruto toppled over and collapsed, dropping his kunai. It skittered across the floor, and he held his breath as he tried to cope with the dizzying amount of pain throbbing throughout his entire body. Beside him, Shino easily stood up, dropping the charade.

Planting his palms firmly on the ground, Naruto pushed himself off and tried to get up. All at once, he noticed that Shino's monstrous horde of insects was suddenly right next to him. He looked on at it in horror, realizing that he was as good as done. There was no way he would be able to get up and run away in time, he was trapped.

He suddenly realized why Shino had done everything he had done up to that point. He had been trying to buy time, slowing Naruto down and distracting him so that he wouldn't notice the army of bugs sneaking up on him from behind. _That's_ why he had avoided hitting Naruto's vulnerable points. _That's_ why he had pretended to be badly wounded instead of just automatically jumping back up. It was all part of his intricate trap, using Naruto's own desperation to end the match quickly against him.

He groaned and tried to climb to his feet, but he was too late. The bugs quickly began crawling all over his jacket, beginning to smother him. The worst part was, the bugs that were already on him were only a tiny portion of the entire horde. If he allowed all of them to climb onto him, they would suffocate him to death before they sapped him of his chakra.

Even as he lay there, he felt the strength he needed to get back up begin to rapidly leave him. And it was only getting worse. Though the insects were only on his jacket at this point, they would quickly begin crawling onto his pants, and then they would overrun his entire body. In his weakened state, Naruto lost all of his resolve and realized that he might as well forfeit. There was no way he would be able to continue fighting like this. This battle was over.

_Not yet it's not!_ he thought fiercely. _I can't lose! No matter what!_

In a final act of desperation, he gathered what remained of his chakra into his arms and legs. The bugs quickly began draining that as well, leaving him no time to try and prepare himself to do anything if he even did manage to get back onto his feet. Closing his eyes in concentration, he gathered every last bit of energy within his body he could, and pushed off of the hard ground.

He flew into the air in an awkward position, as if he had jumped off of a springboard while he had been doing a handstand. As it turned out, every last bit of energy he could muster turned out to be quite a lot. Flying in an arc, he landed in a spot well away from Shino and his threatening horde of insects, collapsing to the ground with an _oof_.

Beaten and feeling exhausted, he nevertheless quickly sprang back to his feet, determined. Insects were still crawling all over the back of his jacket; he rapidly zipped it open and tore it off of him, throwing it across the room. His new appearance was oddly mismatched, with a plain black T-shirt and his baggy orange pants clashing horribly, making him look like he was dressed up as a Halloween decoration or something. His body now looked somehow disproportionate, with his torso looking small compared to his baggy legs. Not to mention that he had never taken off his jacket in public, making it seem even stranger than it should have.

However, his weapons pouch was taped onto his pants, making the loss of his jacket irrelevant. He quickly pulled out a kunai, even as he was huffing and puffing in an attempt to recover from the trap he had just narrowly escaped from. Now, though, there really was no way to attack his opponent. Shino's bugs were now right next to him, and trying to attack him would be suicide.

Once again, the bugs were beginning to make their way towards Naruto, and he knew that he would have to shake them off of him if he wanted to get at Shino. He formed a seal with his hands and concentrated his remaining chakra, which seemed to already be replenishing at an astonishing rate.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

A dozen replicas of Naruto appeared next to him, missing their jackets just like him. He knew that he was going to have to get the bugs confused again if he wanted to get another chance at Shino. He had to go at his opponent himself, since Shino had already proven he could eliminate multiple clones without trouble. It would be best if the insects started chasing a clone and left the real Naruto alone, so he set his mind to accomplishing that.

The clones quickly began running around in confusing patterns, going past each other and then doubling back until it was completely impossible to tell one apart from another. He kept this up for as long as he could, all the way up until the bugs had nearly reached them. At that point, Naruto and his clones quickly scattered in multiple directions. Some of them headed straight for Shino, while others ran in the opposite direction. Then, suddenly, all the separate groups doubled back once again in a final step to ensure that neither Shino nor his bugs would be able to tell Naruto apart.

Had he gone for Shino the first time, or had he tried to run away? Which was more likely? There was no way Shino would be able to predict this and no way the bugs would be able to tell him apart, which was exactly what Naruto needed.

Now, once the multiple groups had finally decided what direction they were really heading towards, the real Naruto was heading straight for Shino. Chances were that Shino would suspect him of trying to avoid another close quarters fight. Now, he would think that all he had to deal with were a couple of clones, not the real thing.

Even as Naruto began running past the bugs, he realized that something was wrong. They didn't look confused, as if they were trying to decide which one of the Narutos they saw to attack. The real Naruto sprinted past them, and they suddenly moved as one to chase him down. Whether Shino knew if he was the real one before didn't matter; he did now, and prepared himself, raising his kunai in defense.

Naruto never even got close enough to present a threat. The carpet of bugs moved incredibly fast, faster than before. They quickly overran his nearby clones and began heading straight for him, not being distracted by the remaining clones in the other corners of the room. Naruto was unprepared for their sudden boost in speed, and they quickly began forming a ring to block him from reaching Shino. He desperately slid to a halt and tried to escape being choked off, but the bugs had already formed a complete circle around him by the time he had turned around. Closing in fast, Naruto barely had enough time to gather chakra into his feet and leap away before they reached him. Just like the last few times, it was incredibly close. If he had taken any longer, even by a second, the insects would have been all over him.

Landing on his feet, he fell into a crouching position and tried to compose himself. He was still horrified by their ability to immediately find him. How had they done that? It should have been impossible!

The bugs began crawling towards him once again, and he numbly walked backwards. His remaining clones dutifully began charging the open Shino, who coldly eliminated each one without sustaining a single injury.

_Think, think, think…_ Naruto was beginning to feel desperate again. After everything that had happened, after everything he had done so far, was it really impossible to beat Shino? Had everything he'd done been for nothing?

_I've got to come up with a plan…_

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Sakura gripped the railing in front of her tightly, visibly distressed by Naruto's predicament. He had done everything he knew, pulled off every trick he could think of, and yet he was no better off than he had been at the start of the battle. She had never seen anything like Shino's bugs. If she had been down there fighting instead of Naruto, she had no idea how'd she be able to pull off a victory.

Super strength and healing abilities were useless to a mountain of approaching insects. Naruto was doing better than she could have hoped for, constantly picking himself back up when it looked like all was lost, and yet… Shino appeared to be invincible.

The only way Naruto could win was if he managed to get in close and quickly knock him out, but it was obvious that they both already knew that. Indeed, Shino had used that to his advantage, laying a trap for the attacking Naruto.

"I told you Kakashi," Kurenai said pleasantly. "There's no way Shino will lose to someone like Naruto. I admit that you're right, he's grown a lot. But still, he was never any match for a ninja with Shino's skills."

Kakashi remained silent, and Sakura gripped the railing even tighter. Suddenly, it made a creaking noise, and collapsed like aluminum foil in her hands. She quickly released it, and saw the imprints of her fingers left behind. Angrily, she clenched her fists at her side and glared down at the battle below.

_Come on, Naruto…_

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"_Keep the directive foremost in your mind as you move ahead to the next test. I can't stress it enough."_

_Just like Iruka-sensei said_, Naruto thought to himself. _I need a combination of Heaven and Earth to win. I've gotta be strong and smart. I've got the strong part down fine, but I need to be smart and come up with a foolproof plan, one that not even Shino can beat. For starters, I've gotta shake these bugs off of me…_

He continued walking backwards as the mass of insects advanced on him. How were they able to find him out of all of his clones? If he could beat that puzzle, then he could find a way to get to Shino and beat him.

_Maybe it's a smell on me or something…_ he realized. _But what could it be? I guess it could be Shino's scent, he's been using me as a punching bag and he could be leaving his scent for his bugs to follow. But that doesn't make sense. The bugs would be totally confused because he's in the same room. In fact, they'd probably chase after him because he'd smell like… well, himself, while I'd have only a little bit of his scent on me. Maybe he put something on me, something they can follow anywhere and single me out…_

He tried thinking of the things Shino might have placed on him that would attract the insects. Obviously, it would have to be small, or else he would have been able to feel it and get it off of him. Similarly, it couldn't have been on his jacket, since he had thrown it halfway across the room a little while ago. He quickly looked down at his sore knees to see if Shino had stuck something onto his feet before kicking him there. The pants looked scratched and scuffed up, but there was no visible marker. If Shino had planted something on him, chances were he had done it by hand.

Even as he continued walking backwards, he quickly reached up and rubbed his jaw, right where Shino had punched him. There was nothing to be felt there other than his scraped skin. But there was no other place Shino had touched him… Suddenly, Naruto reached up higher and felt the cold metal of his forehead protector.

_Of course! _he realized. _His hand touched my headband at the beginning of the match! He must have done it then! It would explain everything!_

He grinned triumphantly. He had figured it out. With this new knowledge, he quickly began thinking up another plan, one that Shino wouldn't be expecting, much less be prepared to defend against.

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Shino eyed Naruto warily as his opponent continued walking backwards and away from his bugs. It looked like he had finally trapped Naruto, but it had looked that way several times before. And each time, Naruto had found some way to get himself out of trouble and escape. Not only that, but he relentlessly made attempt after attempt to bypass the bugs and attack Shino directly. While Shino was getting progressively tired of trying to box Naruto in and deal with him when he got too close, it seemed like his opponent had unlimited supplies of energy.

While the gashes in his legs continued to throb painfully and stopped him from running all over the arena to chase after Naruto himself, Naruto seemed unaffected by the repeated beatings he had taken. He just bounced back up and tried again. And again. And again.

There was no stopping him. If it hadn't been for the fact that the bugs could single him out, he would have been able to create clones and go directly after Shino over and over again without worrying about getting trapped. In his condition, Naruto shouldn't have been able to reach Shino at all, but he had done so repeatedly.

Suddenly, Naruto stopped walking backwards and formed a seal with his hands. Shino stared at him apprehensively. Each time Naruto performed some sort of plan, it was crazier and less predictable than his last one. What was he going to do now?

A handful of shadow clones suddenly appeared next to him with individual puffs of white smoke. As the bugs continued to crawl closer to them, they suddenly huddled together in a confusing mass of lookalikes. Shino immediately lost track of the real Naruto, and they remained grouped together for several seconds, where it looked like some of them were making frantic movements. It was certainly the strangest thing he had seen Naruto do so far.

Suddenly, they broke from their tight huddle and ran in separate directions. Unlike last time, none of them were heading straight for him, and they weren't trying to make confusing patterns. Some of them ran straight towards the wall and began running up it and out of sight, while others began running to separate corners of the arena. Though Shino couldn't tell for the life of him who the real Naruto was, his bugs couldn't be fooled.

They began chasing after a small group of Narutos that appeared to be trying to swing around behind Shino and take him by surprise. Like last time, the carpet of insects moved swiftly to create a barrier between them and their master, preventing them from attacking. The group quickly reversed direction and escaped being trapped in, then continued trying to make it all the way to Shino.

As they ran, the bugs continued trying to cut them off at various points, forcing them to switch directions multiple times. Sometimes, the bugs were too fast to be outrun, and they crawled all over a clone that had been running too slow, sucking it dry until it disappeared. However, they never lost sight of the real Naruto, and they continued to doggedly chase after him.

They pushed him further and further away from Shino, and he seemed to go along with it. It looked like he was planning on luring them away from their master before he would escape getting trapped and then go directly for Shino. However, the insects were moving too fast for him to outrun them very easily. One by one, the clones in his group were destroyed until he was the only one remaining. Quickly, the bugs began forming another ring around him, trying to trap him when he was too far away from the wall to jump onto it.

Upon seeing this, Naruto stumbled on his feet and turned to bolt towards the wall. However, he was too slow; the bugs had already completed creating a circle around him, and he clumsily ran right into it. He let out a cry as the bugs quickly began crawling up his legs, and he fell to his knees as they continued to pile on top of him. Soon, his entire torso was covered in them, as the horde began to smother him and sap him of his energy.

Shino allowed himself a sigh of relief. Finally, the battle was over. Naruto had fought well−too well. He was tired of the fighting, and glad that it was finally coming to a close. No matter how much energy Naruto had, the bugs would simply suck it out of him until he was too weak to move. His situation was hopeless. As he continued watching, the relieved grin playing at Shino's lips suddenly disappeared.

Naruto let out a final cry−then disappeared in a puff of smoke. The forehead protector he had been wearing didn't disappear, however, and fell to the ground with a clatter. On it was the female beetle Shino had planted earlier.

_But how…?!_

A sudden movement above him caught his attention. Looking up at the ceiling, he suddenly saw a single Naruto dropping down towards him. As he got larger and larger in Shino's vision, he suddenly noticed with alarm that the Naruto he saw was missing his headband.

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The plan had worked so well that Naruto couldn't believe it. Shino's army of bugs had chased down the wrong Naruto, and left their master wide open. Though this had happened before, they wouldn't be able to chase down the real Naruto anymore, not without that precious marker.

As they took out the "fake-real Naruto," Naruto had put the rest of his plan into action. The rest of his clones ran out from their corners and made themselves new targets to confuse the huge mass of bugs, and he dropped down on Shino from the position he had taken on the ceiling. No one had bothered to worry about him. Why would they? It was already clear that he was just another clone, right? That, of course, had been Shino's mistake. And now he was going to have to pay for it.

As the horde of bugs split off into confused fragments, chasing the various clones, Naruto fell right on top of Shino feet first. Shino let out a groan of pain and released his kunai as he fell backwards while Naruto landed on his feet. Shino quickly climbed back onto his feet, and Naruto charged at him. If he allowed Shino to send some sort of command to his bugs, then they would be all over him again. He couldn't let that happen.

The two engaged in a ferocious struggle, punching and elbowing each other in an attempt to gain dominance. Shino, to Naruto's surprise, was a lot tougher and stronger than he had figured him to be.

He blocked one of Naruto's punches, then headbutted him, slamming his headband against Naruto's bare forehead. Dizzily stumbling backwards, Naruto unsteadily charged after Shino again. He threw a wild punch that luckily connected, slamming into his opponent's face. Shino groaned again and stumbled backwards, and Naruto quickly took advantage of his vulnerability. He threw punch after punch, putting as much power behind them as he could. Not all of them connected with Shino's face, however. Some of them hit his chest and others slammed into his stomach, allowing Shino to steady himself and try to come up with a counter-attack.

Though he wouldn't be able to call on his confused bugs to help him, he would still be able to take down Naruto by himself. All he needed to do was secure a quick knock out. But before he could try that, he had to stop Naruto from attacking him.

He suddenly ducked under a hook Naruto threw at his face, and countered with an uppercut to Naruto's chin. As Naruto stumbled backwards, Shino suddenly reached out and grabbed his wrist, quickly twisting it until it snapped. A loud _crack_ filled the room, and Naruto let out a cry of pain. He hadn't been expecting Shino to counter like that.

Even though he had a powerful urge to hold onto his injured wrist, Naruto ignored the excruciating pain and began swinging his other fist at Shino. Shino was easily able to dodge the slower attacks, even trying to grab it so he could twist it as well. Naruto quickly withdrew his hand before Shino could reach for it.

He leaped backwards and away, trying to regain his composure. He reminded himself that now was the only opportunity he would be getting to finish the battle. If he failed here, he wouldn't be getting any second chance. He was too injured to try something like this again. Determined, he quickly bolted from his standing position and charged at Shino, uninjured hand extended. As soon as he reached his opponent, Shino suddenly produced a kunai from out of his sleeve. Before Naruto could slide to a halt, Shino quickly slashed his weapon across the blond's open palm.

He slowed to a halt, arms hanging limp at his side. The pain was disorienting; before he could recompose himself, Shino suddenly slammed his fist into Naruto's face, sending him flying back with a cry. The punch was powerful enough to send him tumbling backwards for several feet before slowing to a halt.

Naruto winced and tried desperately to cope with the pain. His left wrist was broken and useless, and he couldn't form a fist with his cut right hand without sending fiery pain shooting down his arm. Groaning, he rolled onto his back to look up at the ceiling, then planted his elbows on the ground as he tried to get up. He couldn't possibly try putting any weight on his hands; he risked making himself pass out from the pain if he did. Slowly and unsteadily, Naruto managed to get back onto his feet and stand up. He managed to focus his blurry vision on Shino, who was standing only a few meters away. His shoulders rose and fell raggedly with his breathing, and he stared back at Naruto.

_It looks like he's more tired than I am_, Naruto realized. He reached for his weapons pouch with his right hand and extracted a kunai. He tried to grip it tight enough to use it in a fight, but found that he couldn't. His hand made a spasm from the intense pain, and the weapon fell to the ground with a clatter.

"Dammit," he breathed. His hands were useless now. He was going to have to win with his legs alone. But how could he do that against someone like Shino? Suddenly his opponent bent his knees slightly, preparing himself for a final charge against Naruto. It was doubtful that Shino would have enough energy to carry on much longer, and it was equally doubtful that Naruto would be able to defend himself at all.

_I guess…this is it…_ Naruto realized numbly. He bent low as well, arms hanging limp at his side as he prepared himself as best as he could. His mind went through an array of moves that he could try with just his legs, but he doubted he could execute them properly.

Without warning, Shino suddenly sprang from his standing position and charged. Horrified, Naruto tried to prepare himself to do something, anything, to protect himself. His mind drew a blank. He couldn't think of anything that would help him. He could try some sort of basic roundhouse kick, but Shino would be able to easily dodge it and finish him off.

Shino was quickly closing the small gap between them. He had his kunai raised, ready to attack Naruto with it. Naruto could only stand there; there was no way he could move out of the way in time. Shino was moving far too fast, and he still didn't have any idea how he would block his attack.

Suddenly, in the instant before Shino reached him, it hit him. It was just the scrap of a far off memory, one he was barely able to recollect. The only reason he was able to remember it at all was because he was experiencing the same emotions that he had been feeling then.

A sense of hopelessness, the inability to do anything, as Hinata flew through the air…

As if he had done it a thousand times before, Naruto quickly and instinctively ducked low, simultaneously kicking his leg up high as he gathered chakra into his foot. The timing was perfect; Shino ran right into the attack. Naruto's foot connected with his chin in a powerful blow, and his head snapped backwards as blood splattered in multiple directions. He let out a cry of pain and flew backwards through the air.

Completing the move, Naruto sprang from his position and followed Shino into the air, falling in underneath him. Though he had seen Rock Lee begin this move against Hinata, he had no idea how it was supposed to be finished. Unsurely, he grabbed the back of Shino's collar with his right hand, gripping it firmly. He realized that they were beginning to fall back to the ground; however he was planning on finishing this move, he was going to have to do it fast.

Coming up with an idea, Naruto tugged on Shino's collar roughly as soon as they approached the floor, turning him over in midair. They had now switched positions; Naruto was now above Shino, and both of them were facing the ground. Shino was powerless to stop Naruto from finishing him off; he was too battered to try and retaliate.

As soon as they were within several feet of the ground, Naruto let go of Shino's collar and bent his legs. He then planted his feet on Shino's back—and jumped off him like a springboard. Naruto's actions caused Shino to fall to the ground face first with a sickening _splat_. He bounced and tumbled, finally rolling to a stop.

Naruto, in contrast, landed on his feet with his back to Shino, bending his knees as his feet connected with the ground. With a grunt, he slowly stood up to his full height and looked over his shoulder at Shino.

He had pushed himself up off the ground slightly, then let out a hacking cough and spat blood onto the floor. His sunglasses were shattered, with most of the pieces on the floor. He made a visible effort to climb back up, pushing off the ground with wobbly arms, but failed and fell back down to lie on the hard floor. As he lay unmoving, Hayate quickly went up to him and checked him. After several moments, he stood back up and coughed before pointing at Naruto.

"The winner is Naruto Uzumaki," he said. "He will pass on to the final round."

Sakura exploded into cheering behind him as he grinned triumphantly. At last, he had proved himself. He had beaten one of the toughest ninjas here, and no one could argue that he hadn't earned his victory. After so long, all his hard work and training had paid off. No one here would be able to call him a loser and mean it anymore. No one.

He shuffled over to where his headband was; some of Shino's bugs were still scattered here and in various other places across the floor. He picked it up with his right hand and slung it over his shoulder, then retrieved his torn jacket as well. He began to wander back up the stairs towards where Sakura and Kakashi stood waiting on the balcony.

Kakashi grinned at him from under his mask, while Kurenai had a sour look on her face, as if she had just lost a large sum of money. He stood next to Sakura and leaned against the rail for support, sighing in exhaustion. Medics below quickly carried an unconscious Shino away, and the bugs began to follow him out. It would probably create huge sanitary problems down at the medical wing, but that wasn't his problem.

"You did great out there, Naruto," Sakura whispered.

"Thanks," he said sheepishly. Blood began dripping to the ground from his cut hand, and Sakura quickly noticed.

"Here, let me see that," she said, reaching for his hand.

"No, it's okay," Naruto said, pulling his hand back. "You don't have to…"

"Just let me see it, we can't have you bleeding all over the place!" Sakura pressed, fussing over him.

"Come on, it can wait…"

"Just let her heal it, Naruto!" Kurenai suddenly snapped angrily. "Honestly, you two carry on like an old married couple!" Naruto's face flushed.

"Umm, right…" He extended his hands towards Sakura, who took them in her own. Refusing to meet her eyes, he stared down at his wounds as they disappeared, Sakura's healing green chakra eliminating them. His wrist suddenly realigned itself, and all the terrible pain disappeared. Sakura only let go once she was sure all of his wounds were taken care of, smiling at him when he looked up to face her.

Turning away uncomfortably, he slid his jacket back on, not bothering to zip it back up. He put his headband back on, tying it in a knot behind his head. He looked down at the arena, where Rock Lee and Gaara, the only remaining contestants, faced off.

_I wonder how the real Rock Lee will do in his own battle…_ Naruto thought, interested. He was still feeling slightly exhilarated from his own victory, and was enthusiastic about watching the match. Sakura turned away from him to look as well, and even the disgruntled Kurenai seemed interested.

"Let the final match begin!" Hayate announced.

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Sort of a warning… I'm going to basically write down Rock Lee's entire fight, even though most of it will be like canon. No matter how hard I tried to avoid it, the next chapter looked really choppy with the small flashbacks I tried putting in to highlight the differences. So I guess you can skip it if you want to, or at least most of it.

**Quote of the Day:**

"All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don't break 'em for no one."

- Scarface


	24. A Match Made in Heaven

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 24: A Match Made in Heaven_

There was a shortage of spectators present to witness the tenth and final match of the preliminaries. The remnants of the Genin Sound team were on the balcony opposite from Naruto and Sakura. Their pale-skinned Jonin was absent, having mysteriously disappeared sometime before. Along with them were the defeated Misumi, the so-far victorious Sand Team and their Jonin sensei, and Asuma with Shikamaru. Naruto and Sakura were accompanied by the rest of the Leaf Jonin: Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy. All of the other Genin were in the medical wing, even the victorious Hinata, Sasuke, and Neji, who were strangely ordered to leave immediately after their battles.

The reasoning behind that was still a mystery to Naruto, who had been trying to guess about it right up until his match had commenced. Right now, though, his mind was focused on the battle below. One way or another, he would find out why they had to leave. He could ask Hinata once the preliminaries were over.

He stared down at Rock Lee and Gaara, trying to judge the likely outcome of the battle. Rock Lee, the taijutsu specialist, looked formidable enough as he stood erect in his defensive stance. He looked ready for battle, even eager. Opposite from him was the enigma Gaara. Totally expressionless, he stared across the floor at Lee with his arms folded across his chest. He looked neither enthusiastic nor displeased with the arrangement. His gourd was easily larger than his entire torso, and must have been incredibly heavy, yet he carried it without sagging or hunching over even slightly.

Naruto noted how all three members of Team Sand(which wasn't their official designation, just a nickname he came up with for the remaining Sand Genin out of the original dozens) carried something on their backs. Both Temari and Kankuro had used theirs to achieve a decisive victory in their own matches. Why would Gaara be any different? Judging from his teammates, that gourd would be his primary weapon; neither he nor the other two even carried a weapons pouch on them. However, how one would use an enormous gourd as a weapon was beyond Naruto.

Without warning, the cork on the gourd suddenly popped out, seemingly of its own accord. It shot through the air and soundlessly landed some distance away, dust particles rising from the gourd. Naruto blinked in confusion. Could Gaara control things with his mind? How else had that happened?

Lee narrowed his eyes at Gaara, perhaps wondering the same thing. He bent his knees slightly, then bolted from his defensive position to charge at his opponent, his sandals clapping against the hard floor. He was incredibly fast; Naruto blinked and he had already reached Gaara. He leaped into the air with a slight spin, extending his leg in a move Naruto had come to memorize.

"Leaf Hurricane!" Lee shouted, aiming his kick at Gaara's head. Gaara, unblinking, continued to stand there with his arms crossed. Suddenly, before Lee's kick could connect, an impossibly large torrent of sand exploded out from the opening on the gourd and swiftly moved to block him. Lee's leg rammed against a shield of sand and bounced off. With a surprised cry, he landed back on the ground, only to be forcefully swept away by an even larger wall of sand that had moved to attack him. With a cry of pain, he tumbled across the floor away from Gaara.

"So that's what the gourd's for," Naruto muttered. "It's full of sand he uses to fight for him…"

"What kind of jutsu is that?" Sakura asked out loud, shock in her voice. "Some sort of clan secret from the Sand Village?"

"Not one I've ever heard of…" Kakashi answered.

All of the spectators looked down at Gaara, who hadn't moved once from his position. His arms were still folded across his chest, as if he were impatient about something. Even though he had just been subjected to a brutal assault, Lee quickly jumped back onto his feet and renewed his attack.

Running in a zigzag, he swiftly charged Gaara once again, aiming for a large opening in the wall of sand. Just as he reached it, the sand quickly rose to block his attacks, his fist slamming into it without being able to penetrate. He threw another kick, but it was stopped as well, causing him to jump backwards before the sand could attack. Gaara, meanwhile, hadn't moved a muscle. Despite Lee's incredible speed, he was getting nowhere. Taking a deep breath, he launched himself at Gaara again, each of his attacks easily being blocked by the sand wall.

"Is taijutsu really his only option?" Sakura asked. "He can't use any ninjutsu?"

"None," answered Guy calmly, looking down at his Genin. "Nor can he use genjutsu. He's a taijutsu specialist for a reason: it's the only thing he can do."

"He must be _really _good at it if he's made it this far," Sakura commented, looking up at the Jonin.

"Trust me, he is," Guy assured her. "But the funny thing is, when I first met him, he wasn't even good at taijutsu! However, since it was his only option, he had no choice other than to train his body above all else…"

Down in the arena, Gaara's sand had launched an offensive against Lee, repeatedly slamming into the ground as he jumped further and further back. He finally made it to safety, leaping up onto the statue depicting two hands folded together, landing on the tallest fingers. Huffing and puffing, he looked down at the stoic Gaara, who expressionlessly returned his gaze.

"…but since taijutsu is his only skill, that's exactly why he can win!" Guy said, grinning confidently. Sakura looked up at him, puzzled, as he turned to look at Lee. "Lee!" he called. "Take them off!"

Lee looked back at him. "But Guy-sensei," he called back, saluting, "you said that I was only to do that to defend people precious to me!"

"It's alright!" he replied, giving Lee a thumbs up. "I'll allow it!"

Lee looked back at him, shocked. Naruto looked between the two of them curiously, wondering what they could be talking about. Lee's astonished look was slowly replaced by a wide grin that crept up his face, and he began giggling happily. He pulled the orange sleeves off his shins, revealing weights strapped to both of his legs.

"Leg weights?" asked Kakashi. "You've gotta be kidding me…"

Lee took off the weights and stood back up after replacing the orange sleeves. Holding the weights in his hands, he stretched his arms out. "Now I can move freely!" he declared excitedly, then released them.

"What difference can a couple of weights−" Sakura was cut off by the huge explosion made by the weights as they landed. Two enormous craters were left behind as the dust cleared, with debris thrown all over the place.

"Don't you think you're overdoing it, Guy?" asked Kakashi skeptically. Guy raised his hand and brought it down swiftly.

"Go, Lee!" he commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Lee replied enthusiastically. He bent his legs in preparation for leaping off the statue, then vanished. Naruto didn't even have to blink to lose sight of him. He was standing there one second, and the next there was a flicker of green trailing across the ceiling. Just how heavy had those weights been?

Suddenly, Lee was right behind Gaara, bent low from his invisible landing. He was a green blur as he rose and reared his fast back to lay a punch on his opponent. The sand blocked him, but only barely. The wall it created was much closer to Gaara's face than the previous ones, and it was much thinner. As thin as it was, it appeared to have been compacted too tightly for Lee to punch through it. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of Gaara, his foot kicking through the sand that swiftly rose but not going far enough to actually hit him. It appeared that his speed was too much for the sand to react to.

He disappeared again and was only visible long enough for Naruto to see him punch through the sand behind Gaara's head. Once again, he wasn't able to punch all the way through, but he was clearly pushing Gaara's defenses to its limit. Suddenly appearing in front of Gaara, his fist penetrated the brittle sand wall before him and nearly hit Gaara. He was getting closer and closer each time. At this rate, as long as Gaara's only weapon was that sand, Lee was clearly going to wear him down.

"Hah! At this rate, Lee will win without even unleashing his full power!" proclaimed Guy, confirming Naruto's guess.

He watched Lee dart all over Gaara's sand shield, completely invisible save for the instances where he punched through the wall.

_So fast_, Naruto thought in amazement. _Everything else I've learned about taijutsu has helped me get better…_ _If I could do that, I'd be totally unbeatable!_

Lee slid behind Gaara, and the sand followed his movements to block him. He suddenly leaped up above Gaara and span in the air rapidly, looking like a green tornado. He extended his leg, and it slammed down on Gaara's head from above, sending the Sand Genin stumbling forward from the severity of the blow.

Lee slid backwards and away, dropping his speed and becoming perfectly visible once again. A triumphant grin was on his face as his fingers trailed along the ground. Gaara glared back at him, a dark gash on his cheek.

"There's no way Gaara can win now," Sakura said, looking on in awe. "Lee got past his defenses… He's won."

"I told you," Guy said, grinning. "Lee's hard work hasn't been for nothing! He's one of the most powerful Genin in Konoha!"

The Sand Team, for their part, looked horrified that Gaara had been wounded, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open. Gaara's sand lay idle, forming a circle around him; presumably, it was waiting for Rock Lee to attack before it would rise in defense. Like lightning, Lee disappeared from his standing position, and a green flicker appeared behind Gaara. The sand rose to block him, but by then Lee had already disappeared and was attacking Gaara's vulnerable front. His fist slammed into Gaara's face, and the Sand Genin was sent hurtling backwards. Lee's speed put immeasurable power behind his attacks.

_That sand shield is useless now_, Naruto realized. _Sakura's right, this match is over…_

Lee stood in his taijutsu stance, huffing and puffing in exhaustion, but with a grin on his face. Gaara slowly climbed to his feet, then turned to face Lee. The Leaf Genin's face quickly dropped, and he adopted a look of fear and confusion. Naruto turned to look at Gaara, and quickly realized why.

Sand was cracking and falling away from his body, revealing a perfectly uninjured face underneath. A demonic grin had suddenly appeared on Gaara's normally emotionless face; it was faintly disturbing to look at. The sand around him began to gather and cover his entire body, reforming the shield and becoming invisible. His demonic grin was slowly replaced by a look of hatred and fury, which looked just as evil as the smile and radiated a tremendous bloodlust.

"So, Lee hadn't really hurt Gaara at all," Kakashi commented. "That sand is his absolute defense…" Guy frowned, but didn't say anything.

"Is that all you can do?" rasped Gaara emotionlessly. Lee narrowed his eyes at him, then prepared himself to renew his offensive. How would he be able to get past the second defense? The inner shield practically made his incredible speed irrelevant. This battle wasn't looking so one-sided anymore.

Determination etched across his face, he suddenly looked up at Guy, who gave him a nod. Frustrated, Naruto realized that it must have been some other secret move that only they knew about. Lee began unwrapping the bandages on his forearms until they hung down to his feet, then turned back up and began running, turning invisible once again. A green blur began to streak in a large circle around Gaara, who waited impatiently.

"Hurry up and attack," he said.

"As you wish!" cried Lee. Easily getting past the outer sand wall, he suddenly reappeared directly in front of Gaara, ducking low and foot lashing out in a high kick. It struck the Sand ninja's chin and sent him flying high into the air, the sand left hopelessly behind. Naruto immediately recognized the move; it was the Lotus Lee had used against Hinata, the same move he had stolen himself.

Lee jumped off the ground, following Gaara into the air, repeatedly landing kick after kick on his opponent the entire way up. He was moving too fast to follow, the only evidence he was even there was the way Gaara painfully reacted to each kick. Guy suddenly slammed his hands together in prayer, screwing his eyes shut. It appeared that Lee was about to finish this. Indeed, Lee suddenly became visible once again, appearing behind Gaara.

His bandages quickly wrapped themselves around Gaara's body, completely tying him up. Lee grabbed him firmly, and began spinning like a top as the two began their descent back to the ground. Spinning faster and faster, they both became nothing but a blur as they fell. They slammed into the floor with a tremendous crash, sending dust and debris in all directions as Lee released Gaara and leaped to safety. A huge crater was visible once the moke cleared, revealing a motionless Gaara lying in the middle of it. His eyes were closed, and he didn't appear to be breathing. So this was the full power of the Lotus…

_If I had done that to Shino, I wouldn't have just knocked him out_, Naruto realized. _I would have killed him._

"Lee… he did it…" Sakura said slowly, happiness in her voice. "He won!"

"Yes!" said Guy ecstatically, pumping his fist in the air. "I knew he would do it!"

Lee breathed heavily as he looked on at Gaara's body, and Hayate looked ready to call the match. Sand was cracking and falling away from Gaara's face. As they continued to watch, the entire face suddenly caved in, revealing nothing underneath but a dark pit. No blood, bones, or anything that a human would have, just a hollow sculpture of hard sand in the shape of a body. Lee's eyes widened in horror, and Guy cried out in dismay.

"Impossible! There's no way he could have slipped out of his shell and escaped!"

"It happened when you voluntarily shut your eyes, Guy," said Kakashi, "and when Lee closed his eyes from the pain of straining himself. He did it when no one would have noticed." It seemed that no detail made it past Kakashi.

A mound of sand suddenly rose up behind Lee, revealing Gaara. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, looking insane as he rasped out a malevolent laugh. It appeared that he had been possessed by a demon; he was no longer the emotionless ninja from the start of the match. As Gaara fully emerged from the sand, Lee could only look on in terror as a gargantuan torrent of sand suddenly rose up and crashed into him. It appeared that using the Lotus had exhausted the last of his strength.

Lee was slammed into the nearest wall by the sand, and he cried out in pain. A second attack rapidly shot towards him, and he crossed his arms in front of him in defense. It crashed into him with incredible force, creating a crater in the wall as Lee emerged unharmed. Gaara smirked and slid his tongue across his lips in excitement as Lee stumbled forward.

"Why doesn't he just duck or jump out of the way?" Sakura asked. "What happened to all his speed?"

"The Lotus technique is a double-edged sword," Guy answered her, looking down at Lee and narrowing his eyes. "It's an advanced form of taijutsu that puts an incredible strain on the body."

"Right now, Lee is basically just a mass of pain and weakness," Kakashi stated. "Isn't that right, Guy?" Guy only narrowed his eyes even further.

"Lee's not finished yet," he said calmly. "He won't quit, and he won't stop fighting until Gaara goes down and doesn't get back up." Below, Lee narrowly dodged one of Gaara's attacks, only to be swept away by another one. He got back up, panting.

"You have no idea what he's been through," Guy continued, emotion in his voice. "He went from being a talentless outcast to a superb fighter, training three times as hard as everybody else. He was determined to beat his teammate and rival, Neji, the genius of the Hyuga Clan. He lost over and over again, but he would always just get back up and train even harder. Even when everyone told him to just quit, to give it up, he never lost sight of his dream. To prove that even someone who doesn't know genjutsu or ninjutsu can still become a splendid ninja… that's his nindo. He hasn't made it this far to just quit now!"

Another attack was sent Lee's way, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time. As it was about to slam into him, he suddenly bolted from the spot, turning into a green blur as he outran the torrent. He had gotten his amazing speed back.

"How did he…?" Sakura looked down at Lee, bewildered. He stepped into his defensive stance, a grin on his face as he stared at Gaara. "Why is he smiling like that if he's been getting pushed around so badly?"

"Because Lee's about to start pushing back!" Guy said confidently. "The Lotus of Konoha shall bloom twice!"

"For you, it ends here," Gaara rasped to Lee.

"Well, one way or another, my next move will be my last," Lee replied, grinning. His face was shiny from sweat, and he continued to breathe heavily. Nevertheless, he had somehow gotten his strength back up, and he still looked confident in his ability to win.

"Guy," said Kakashi slowly. "Don't tell me you…"

"On the contrary," Guy responded icily. "I did." Naruto groaned inwardly. Another secret.

"Then you mean to tell me that Lee, a Genin, can open the chakra gates?" Kakashi asked, narrowing his visible eye.

"He can. He has the talent."

_The chakra gates?_ Naruto wondered. _What the hell are those?_

"The Reverse Lotus tops the list of forbidden jutsus you shouldn't teach, Guy!" Kakashi stated angrily. "I'll spare you the lecture of not being governed by your emotions, but still…"

"You don't know the first thing about Lee…" Guy said angrily, not looking up at Kakashi. "His dream is so valuable to him, he'd die for it. It would have been irresponsible of me to _not_ teach him moves he's capable of."

Below, Lee crossed his arms and closed his eyes in concentration. His hair began to rise slightly as if a breeze were blowing, and small bits of rubble began to levitate from the ground. Whatever Lee was doing, it was harnessing and focusing a tremendous amount of chakra.

"So tell me Guy," Kakashi began. "How many gates can he open?"

"He can go up to the fifth," Guy answered. Kakashi looked astounded, and began looking between him and Lee.

"Only a genius…" he said slowly.

"What are these chakra gates you two keep talking about?" asked Sakura, annoyed.

"The chakra gates are limiters that put a cap on how much power the human body can use," Guy explained. "If a human were to have access to all their power at one point, using it would tear their body apart."

"There are eight total," Kakashi continued, pulling up his headband to reveal his Sharingan eye. "The Gate of Opening, the Gate of Rest, the Gate of Life, the Gate of Pain, the Gate of Closing, the Gate of Joy, the Gate of Shock, and the Gate of Death. They are located along the chakra network in specific places, and put a limit on how much chakra is flowing throughout the body at any given time. One can forcibly override these limits, and access the necessary chakra to perform advanced jutsu… such as the Reverse Lotus."

"How many gates do you need to open to use the Reverse Lotus?" Sakura asked.

"Three," Guy answered simply.

"But the Front Lotus alone left him a complete wreck…" Sakura observed.

"Exactly," Kakashi said. "Indeed by opening the eighth and final chakra gate, one can achieve power that surpasses the Kage level… but at the cost of your own life."

Sakura looked shocked, but Naruto found himself wondering about the kind of power he could achieve with these chakra gates they were fussing over.

"Could I learn to open these gates?" he asked curiously.

"Absolutely not!" said Kakashi angrily, as if the question were somehow offensive. "They're forbidden for a reason!"

"But Lee can do it!" he protested.

"That was a decision Guy made, and a questionable one at that," Kakashi replied. "There's no way you could learn to open them in the first place, let alone use safe measures when doing it." Guy, on the other hand, looked amused by the question.

"Technically Naruto, anyone can learn to open the gates," he cut in, much to Kakashi's annoyance. "But that doesn't necessarily mean that they'd suit your style. You'd probably be better off learning advanced ninjutsu or something."

Naruto grunted in frustration and leaned onto the railing, looking back down into the arena. Lee had thrown his arms down to his waist, and chakra was visibly swirling around him in an amazing display. His hair was now standing almost straight up, and larger pieces of rubble were being lifted into the air by an invisible energy. Lee's skin had taken on a distinct dark orange hue, and his pupils had disappeared as veins began bulging all over his forehead. He let out a cry and bent low, and a powerful surge of energy kicked up around him. Gaara's eyes had widened in surprise and (was it even possible?) perhaps fear as he looked on at Lee.

"He's opened the fourth gate…" Kakashi observed.

Lee stood up and made as if to run, and an explosion racked the entire arena, with debris and rubble tossed in all directions. The stone tiles on the floor were torn apart, crumbling as Lee moved across them. If it was possible to comprehend, he was moving even faster than before, absolutely invisible except for the destruction he created as he advanced on Gaara.

The Sand Genin was suddenly tossed into the air, his sand armor crumbling. Lee, however, was nowhere to be seen. The mound of sand tried to keep up with Gaara as he was thrown towards the ceiling, but it was hopeless. A flicker of green appeared in front of Gaara for a split second, and he was struck by a tremendous blow that sent him hurtling back towards the ground. A second flicker appeared underneath him, and he was abruptly thrown back up towards the ceiling. This continued for several seconds, with Gaara being tossed in multiple directions by an invisible opponent. His sand armor began to peel away from the intense onslaught, and Lee suddenly visibly appeared right in front of him.

"This is the end!" he cried.

"He's opened the fifth gate," Kakashi said, shocked. "His muscles have torn apart, if this continues much longer…"

Lee slammed into Gaara, throwing him towards the floor at great speed. A single strip of bandage was clinging to Gaara, and Lee gripped it tightly with his fist, yanking Gaara back towards him. With a ferocious cry, Lee extended one of his feet as he and the Sand Genin rapidly drew nearer. It slammed into Gaara's abdomen with incredible force, causing the resilient sand armor to crumble and fracture.

Gaara was thrown back down to the ground; this time it would be final. Naruto caught a glimpse of the gourd on his back disintegrating, looking as if it were melting. He quickly lost sight of both the combatants as they crashed into the ground, one that shook the entire arena and caused tiles from the ceiling to fall away. Dust and smoke quickly rose, obscuring everything.

Lee was suddenly ejected from the cloud, sent tumbling across the ground with a cry. Several seconds passed with nothing happening, and the crowd watched with held breath. Slowly, agonizingly, Lee rose to stand on his feet, stumbling. He looked like he was ready to collapse. As long as Gaara hadn't gotten back up…

The cloud of dust dispersed, revealing Gaara standing fully erect within an enormous crater. His sand armor had almost completely crumbled away, with large chunks peeling off even as Naruto watched. His gourd was gone, and a large pile of sand lay at his feet.

_Don't tell me…_ Naruto thought with horror. _He turned his gourd into a cushion to save himself!_

Lee looked on in horror. It was over. He had expended all of his strength, he had nothing left to use. Gaara, in contrast, was perfectly fine. The Sand ninja raised his arm up, palm open wide. The sand obeyed his command, and swiftly moved on the helpless Lee wrapping itself completely around his body. Only his face was visible, and he looked at Gaara in terror. The sand began to squeeze tighter, and Lee cried out in pain.

Hayate began to raise his hand to call the match, but it was too late. Gaara was about to kill Lee regardless. The sand quickly began to squeeze even tighter, and it appeared that no one would be able to do anything to save Lee.

Suddenly the cocoon of sand exploded and dispersed; Guy stood in its place as the sand flew in all directions. Lee was cradled in his arms, and a hard look was in his face as Gaara looked on in shock. Everything was deathly silent for a moment, and Gaara screamed and clutched his head in agony, looking insane.

"Why are you helping him?" he managed to ask, looking ready to fall to his knees.

"Because he's someone I hold dear to me!" Guy proclaimed, holding onto the unconscious Lee even tighter. Gaara looked as if Guy were talking in a foreign language, showing no sign of understanding what he had just said. Slowly, he turned and began walking away.

"Forget it," he muttered. "I quit…"

"The winner is Gaara on technicality…" Hayate said slowly, pointing at the Sand Genin's back. "He gets to advance to the final round."

"But, he just quit…" Naruto said, confused.

"Gaara was the winner the instant Guy intervened on Lee's behalf," Kakashi stated. "That's why it was on technicality."

Even as Guy held onto Lee's body, tears began trickling down his face, weeping for the terrible loss. Naruto grabbed onto the rail and hopped down, his open jacket flapping as he descended. He began running over to where the medics had gathered around Lee and Guy, briefly making eye contact with Gaara. His eyes were cold and emotionless, and Naruto scowled in anger. How could Lee lose to someone like him?

He caught up to the medics, who had laid Lee's body down on the ground and were frantically inspecting him.

"I can't feel any fractures on him…" observed one medic, who was poking and prodding Lee's arms and legs. He turned to his comrade. "Can you?"

"Nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head. "He's a mess of torn muscle, but nothing else. Lucky thing, too. Judging by how badly he _is_ injured, toss in a couple of broken bones and he'd have fragments imbedded in his spinal cord… or worse."

"Good thing that sand hadn't squeezed any tighter then," said the first medic. "If it had… Geez, this kid lost, and I still think he's the luckiest Genin here. C'mon, let's get him to the medical wing so we can take care of him."

"How long will it take for him to recover?" Naruto and Guy asked at the same time. Guy's voice was significantly more emotional.

"It might be a few days before he can walk again," said the first medic. "And even longer before he can seriously fight. But either way, he'll recover just fine. Maybe his pride will be bruised, but other than that…" They quickly carried Lee away in a stretcher, and Guy sighed in relief.

"What a miracle…" he said. "And to think, I thought I'd been too late…"

Naruto found himself glad that Lee would turn out okay, as well. If Gaara had crippled or even killed him, that would have been unforgivable.

"The preliminaries are now officially concluded," Hayate announced. "If all of the winning Genin would please come down here, I believe Lord Hokage will have a few announcements for you…"

88888888

Kabuto and Orochimaru stood in a quiet courtyard in the outskirts of the Leaf Village. They had just barely caught up with each other, and the medical wing where all the Genin were kept was in sight.

"Well, the preliminaries are over," Kabuto stated. "The finals are next. And not only have all three of your seal-bearers survived the second stage, they've passed the preliminaries, as well!"

"What are the odds…"muttered Orochimaru. "I guess I get to have Sasuke after all. See Kabuto? All your worries were for nothing. I never had to go after those other two."

"It was just a precaution…" Kabuto said defensively. "You know as well as I do that the curse seal has an abysmal survival rate."

"Yes, yes…" said Orochimaru, waving his hand in dismissal. "All the same, I can't wait to see how they fight in the final rounds. Heh, I might even decide to take Hinata and Neji along with Sasuke. They can serve as my bodyguards, or some other useful function."

"And when the finals do come… are our forces ready to attack?"

"Of course they are. When was the last time I was caught unprepared?" He laughed. "The negotiations wound up turning out pretty well. Earth and Water agreed to join our alliance. Fire won't stand a chance."

"And Lightning Country?"

"I'm not certain," Orochimaru answered. The Raikage refused to attend the negotiations. We're currently trying to reestablish a line of communication with him."

"Do you think this will cause a problem later on?" Kabuto asked, quick to assess potential trouble.

"I doubt it," he answered. "If Lightning wants nothing to do with a war with Fire, then they certainly won't want anything to do with a war against us and three Great Nations."

"Are we still going to press ahead with an invasion of Fang?"

"We don't have much choice in the matter. We have to plan for the long term, and so conquering it is out of necessity, not some tactic to flex our military strength."

"What about Fire's other allies?" asked Kabuto, curious. "Is Earth prepared to wage a war against them if the need arises?"

"They're not only willing, they're eager for it," Orochimaru answered. "They're not going to pass up an opportunity to swallow up their neighbors and increase the size of their empire. I even hear that tensions are mounting in Rain with two separate factions, and that it might escalate into a civil war. Probably just Akatsuki stirring up trouble… Regardless of the reason, they'll fall even easier."

"We've had a lot of good things coming our way, then," Kabuto said. "If this luck holds out, the entire war will be over in no time."

"Indeed," said Orochimaru, grinning. "Nothing will be able to stop the rise of the Empire of Sound. Even now, our armies are preparing for conquest. They're being outfitted with experimental weapons from Snow Country−dreary place−and it's not likely our enemies will be prepared to face them."

"Since when did we get a contract with the Land of Snow?" asked Kabuto. "Though it's only right that they lend a hand."

"We established the deal a short time after you departed. They're in desperate need of money, so there wasn't any real chance of them turning down our deal."

"It really is a miserable country," Kabuto said. "Worse than Sound ever was, probably. At least their technology is good for something. Huge factories all over the place… they've a got a tremendous production output under their current regime. Enough to rival Lightning, I hear."

The Land of Lightning was the undisputed leader in production, manufacturing weapons and other necessities like an enormous machine; yet another reform made after its long and bloody civil war ended. Even so, it couldn't boast any sort of innovation when it came to the things they made. On the other hand, the Land of Snow didn't have a particularly powerful military, with no warhawks or navy to speak of. Just factories that made strange weapons, and a small army of people to use them. Indeed, when a large civil war had broken out in their country, Orochimaru's armies had carried the brunt of the fighting.

"Their weapons, coupled with our other, 'organic' weapons: we've got warhawks and snakes prepared to unleash a devastating assault… it will be something totally unwitnessed by the world, completely impossible to stop."

"Heh… When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a warhawk handler," said Kabuto, recalling fond memories of his childhood. "But that was before I realized that politics was my true calling."

"Tch… Children and their fantasies…" Orochimaru thought back about his own childhood, when he was a Genin under Sarutobi-sensei. How young and carefree he was… until he got into a dispute with a certain member of the Uchiha Clan, and swore to get revenge on him and all the other filth with bloodline limits. And boy, did he ever get his revenge.

"In any case, final preparations must be made for the destruction of Konoha," Orochimaru went on. "I'll have to fetch three sacrifices for my fight with Sarutobi; I can probably just take them from one of the prison camps. The Kazekage must be informed of his role, the Wind Lord must be assassinated, Water will have to prepare its fleet… So much to do, so little time, eh?"

"Indeed."

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The Third Hokage stood before the victorious Genin present, hands clasped behind his back and pipe hanging from his lips. Hayate and the other Jonin stood beside him on the ruined stone floor of the arena.

"To those of you who won your preliminary bouts−although three of you aren't here−congratulations!" Sarutobi said, grinning. "Starting now, I will explain the finals. As I explained earlier, you will conduct your final round battles in a public arena before scores of spectators. Each of you effectively represents the strength of your countries, so you should feel obligated to fight to the best of your ability, showcasing your various, unique skills. You all have one month to train and prepare yourselves for your bouts; we won't be expecting you to fight as soon as tomorrow, as that'd be ridiculous to expect of you. Also, it gives us time to send messages to the various rulers of the countries who have competing Genin, informing them if it would be worth their time to come. I suggest you use this time to your advantage, and relay on all the things you learned here today. The strengths and weaknesses of your opponents, how you can improve yourself… That sort of thing. Before you can all leave, there is something that must be done, concerning picking your opponents for the finals. Anko will walk up to each of you with a box filled with slips of paper. Each one will have a number on it. Randomly choose a paper, then we'll do the rest. Since Sasuke, Neji, and Hinata aren't present, we had their numbers randomly chosen by their senseis a few minutes ago. Now, if you would please…"

Anko went up to each of the Genin carrying a small box, and each of them pulled out a folded slip of paper. Unfolding it would reveal their numbers. Naruto got his and looked at it. He was 2. Once everyone had gotten a paper, Sarutobi gave them another command.

"Now that you all have your numbers, would you please call them out. Ibiki here will record them."

"Seven," said Dosu.

"Two," declared Naruto proudly.

"Nine," said Temari.

"Five," said Kankuro.

"Six," said Gaara.

"Ten," said Shikamaru sleepily.

"Eight," said Sakura.

Ibiki hastily scribbled on a clipboard as they called out their numbers, recording them. Presumably, he had also written down the numbers for the three missing Leaf Genin.

"Now Ibiki, if you would be so kind as to show them who their opponents will be…"

"Certainly, Lord Hokage," he said, and held up the clipboard so all the Genin could see what he'd written. It turned out to be another elimination-style tournament, with the winner of the first match facing the winner of the second match, and so on. Naruto quickly looked for his name to see who he would be fighting. His heart nearly stopped when he saw who it was.

**Match One: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Naruto Uzumaki**

**Match Two: Hinata Hyuga vs. Neji Hyuga**

**Match Three: Gaara vs. Kankuro**

**Match Four: Sakura Haruno vs. Kinuta Dosu **

**Match Five: Shikamaru Nara vs. Temari**

_I… I get to fight Sasuke…_ He had no idea how to react to such news. He couldn't have picked a better opponent if he'd been given a choice. He merely stood there, dumbfounded. After so long, after all these years… He was finally going to get the chance to kick Sasuke's ass in front of everyone. His fists clenched at his side, and he stared hard at the floor. As much as he felt like jumping for joy or shouting out, he felt an uncomfortable sense of fear gathering in the pit of his stomach. The only reason he wanted to beat Sasuke so badly in the first place was because of how strong he was. How incredibly strong.

"Well, here are the rules," Sarutobi said, breaking into his thoughts. "Although technically there can only be one winner, that does not mean that only one of you can be promoted to Chunin. It is entirely possible that every one of you will pass. However, it is also entirely possible that _none_ of you will be promoted. It is in your best interest to win each battle, so that you can have more opportunities to impress the spectators with your skills."

Naruto looked back up at the matches. _If… When I beat Sasuke, it looks like I'm gonna have to fight Hinata… Geez…_ The thought that she might have been out of her league fighting someone like Neji never once crossed his mind.

"Well, you are all dismissed!" said the Hokage happily. "Go out and prepare yourselves!"

All of the Genin began to head towards the exit and file out. Everyone seemed to want to start their training as soon as possible. It took an effort for Naruto to simply put one foot in front of the other as he walked; he felt slightly lightheaded. He was fighting Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke…

He never once noticed the horrified look Sakura sent his way as they left the arena.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"I want to throw down your kid and stomp on his testicles, and then you will know what it is like to experience waking up everyday as me. And only then will you feel my pain."

- Mike Tyson


	25. Darkness Descending

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 25: Darkness Descending_

Hinata was shaken awake by a medic in the early hours of the morning, and she groggily sat up in her bed as the medic left her side. She clumsily removed the warm sheets covering her and swung her feet over the side of the bed, slowly looking around the room as she tried to wake herself up. It must have been time for her to head back home. Other Genin were being awoken as well, and some had already left the medical wing. She saw that Sasuke and Neji in particular were nowhere to be seen; they must have already checked out.

Her clothes had been cleaned and had been folded neatly before being placed in a basket at the foot of her bed. They had even taken the time to sew the small puncture marks left behind by Kin's needles, making it look as good as when she had first received it. She took her clothes and retreated into the nearby bathroom to dress herself. She emerged good as new, and dumped her hospital gown into a marked steel bin as she left. The other Genin, the ones who were healed enough to be discharged, were also preparing to leave.

Subconsciously rubbing the back of her neck, she remembered being stuck in the cold, dark chamber, completely topless, as Kurenai performed a jutsu to lock away her curse seal. Though Hinata had never met Kurenai before, the Jonin had comforted her and promised that everything would turn out okay. It helped make the ordeal more bearable, and Hinata found that she rather liked Kurenai. She didn't come across as accomplished as Kakashi, but she probably would have made a nice sensei all the same.

A nurse helped her check out of the hospital, a relatively easy process to get through since Hinata didn't have any personal belongings they had to retrieve for her. They merely had to identify her, find out who her Jonin sensei was, and whether she was advancing to the final round. When Hinata answered positively to the nurse's inquiry, the woman's face split into a wide grin as she congratulated her.

Hinata felt a foreign sense of pride and confidence as she left the hospital and headed back to the Hyuga Estate. For a little while, it felt like she shouldn't be feeling this way, that she needed to constantly be reminded that she was a talentless reject and disappointment. However, that gradually disappeared, and Hinata discovered that she loved feeling like this. She deserved it, didn't she? Only ten Genin out of over a hundred had made it to the finals! She quickly realized that she hadn't been present to watch Naruto's match.

_I hope he passed_, she thought desperately. She was confident that he could have won no matter who he had fought, but she still felt anxious to find out; the fact that she hadn't seen him at the hospital struck her as a good sign. For a moment she stopped in her tracks, wondering if she should go straight home or pay Naruto a visit. She imagined what his reaction would be when he opened his door and saw her: he'd likely be surprised that she knew where he lived and ask her how she found out. Telling him the truth—that she'd watched him and followed him numerous times when she was younger—would undoubtedly horrify him; her cheeks began to turn red at the mere thought.

She mulled over a variety of different lies to explain how she knew where he lived. However, she doubted that she'd be able to lie to him convincingly; she'd most likely just turn into a stuttering mess and embarrass herself. Her resolve melting, she considered standing outside his apartment and using her Byakugan to peek inside and make sure he was doing okay. This time, her imagination presented her with the scenarios of him leaving his apartment just as she arrived, or running into him on her way there. She began trying to think up an excuse for what she was doing in that part of the village; it was so far from the Hyuga Estate, the hospital, the training grounds, and any good stores or restaurants that she had no other reason to be there. Again, she found herself incapable of thinking up a good lie to tell him.

_Maybe I should just stop being so afraid and go see him anyway?_ she berated herself. Unfortunately, her courageous spirit had been in a losing battle from the beginning—her growling stomach and her aching muscles did nothing to bolster her resolve and were powerful motivators to just head home—and the longer she had stood there and thought about it, the more her determination faded.

With a sigh, she reluctantly gave up and decided to continue heading home. _Nothing but a scared little girl_, she thought bitterly. _Just like always._

Her expression nearly a scowl, she strolled towards the Estate; though her thoughts were elsewhere and she paid scant attention to her surroundings, she nevertheless caught sight of Kakashi and Guy heading in the opposite direction. They appeared to be having a lively conversation, and it looked like they were arguing over something. Not wanting to get caught in the middle, she just hurried along and minded her own business.

She quickly reached her home; the Hyuga Estate was relatively close to the hospital, tucked away in a quiet part of the Leaf Village. It wasn't completely obscured from view, hidden in a dark, isolated corner of the village, like the former Uchiha city sector.

That, she reflected, had likely helped Itachi Uchiha escape the village alive after he had committed his atrocious crime: no outsider had been present to witness or even hear the massacre that took place there, and the Konoha Police only arrived on the scene after a blood-soaked and terrified six-year-old Sasuke Uchiha arrived at the station talking nonsensically.

After the mess had been cleaned up, no one had wanted to live in the vacant buildings (especially after an old drunk claimed that ghosts had tried to kill him when he trespassed the area), so the rotting houses and shops were eventually demolished. A large park now stood in its place, with a marble cross erected in the center to honor the dead. Regardless of the change of scenery, many citizens old enough to know what had happened avoided the area whenever they could.

The Hyuga Estate now in view, Hinata increased her pace and hurried towards it. As she entered the structure, it seemed oddly empty; the servants were few and far between, and she couldn't find a single Hyuga anywhere. She wasn't really seeking anyone out, but it still felt slightly eerie, especially after reminiscing about the Uchiha Massacre. Chances were that all of them were out working around the village; doubtlessly many preparations needed to be made before the noble guests began arriving for the finals.

Paying a visit to the kitchen, she made her way over to where the fruits were kept in search of a snack. Though she had some knowledge when it came to cooking and preparing meals, her stomach had let out a loud growl at the sight of food, and she doubted that she'd be able to stand going another minute without eating; the smell of preparing breakfast would make the wait even more unbearable. Grabbing an apple, she tore into it with her teeth in the same way a carnivorous animal might have feasted upon its prey; she barely chewed it at all, swallowing bite-sized chunks, some of the apple's flesh ended up on her face, and a drop of juice began running down her chin. She finished it off in less than a minute. Wiping her face off with a napkin, she threw the apple core in the garbage, then returned to the fruits in search of more to eat.

Eating a couple of pears and then a banana (thankfully with more restraint than she had displayed while consuming the apple), she let out a contented sigh and rubbed her stomach, her appetite temporarily sated. She suspected that she'd find herself starving for more soon enough, but for now she was happy to go to her room and try to relax.

Exiting the kitchen, she made it up to her room and quickly entered it, sitting herself down on her bed and slipping her sandals off. Before she had a chance to lie down, the seal on her neck suddenly throbbed uncomfortably; wincing, she reached up with her hand to gently rub it. She wondered how long it would continue to bother her. She recalled her horrific encounter with Orochimaru, who had informed her that the seal would give her incredible power, and that if she wanted more, she need only seek him out. According to Kurenai, the seal was corruptive and would constantly tempt her to access its power; now that it was blocked away, it would be unable to affect her mind or her body, but only so long as she resisted the urges to use it.

Staring down at the floor, she returned her hand to her lap and tried to gather her thoughts. She had difficulty even finding one thing to focus on; her mind simply jumped from one subject to another without any coherence. The spell was broken when she heard someone walk into the room through the open door, and she quickly whipped her head up to see who it was.

"You're finally back," said Hanabi, standing at the doorway. "Father hadn't said anything about what happened to you, I was beginning to think you'd been hurt…"

"No, I'm fine," Hinata assured her. At the mention of their father, however, she began to feel as if she were growing sick. One of the Jonin must have told him about what had happened to her in the Forest of Death. How would he react to that? He already had such a low opinion of her… She wouldn't be surprised if he decided to just disown her and kick her out of the Estate altogether.

"Oh," said Hanabi, oblivious to Hinata's worries. "Well that's good to hear." She walked across the room and sat herself down next to her older sister, looking up at her. "Did you hear about what the Third Hokage told Father?" she asked. At this, Hinata's eyes widened, her heart skipping and her blood feeling like it had turned to ice.

"Wh-What?" she managed to ask, her voice barely louder than a whisper. "What did he say?"

"He congratulated Father for your passing onto the final round, and the Hyuga Clan in general for having two of its members make it so far," Hanabi said, a rare happiness animating her expression. It quickly disappeared, however. "They did tell you who you're fighting, right?"

Hinata nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Her heart continued to pound uncomfortably for a moment longer, but the effects of that jolt of terror gradually faded. "Well, no…" she finally answered. She had never bothered to wonder about who had been selected to battle. "Who is it?"

"Neji," said Hanabi quietly.

"N-Neji?" Hinata felt the fear surging back up inside of her. Only this time, it didn't start fading away. Hanabi nodded her head grimly.

"They said it was decided at random," she explained. "That even though it would be full of complications for us, there was nothing they could do about it…"

However, to Hinata, her problem wasn't about the strife within the Hyuga Clan. It was simply the fact that Neji was an unbeatable genius. When she had been Hanabi's age and younger, her father would constantly point out that fact to her.

_"Are you going to let someone in the Branch Family surpass you?" _he would ask. _"You're the heiress, and yet you perform as clumsily as an outsider without any Hyuga blood! What do you think your mother would say if she were here?"_

At this memory, she found herself wondering what her mother _would_ tell her if she were with her now. Would she try to comfort her, tell her that she had what it took to win? Or would she have given up on her just as her father had? Hinata, unfortunately, didn't remember enough about her mother to know.

She was partly to blame for that; after learning about what had happened, after hearing her father speak those terrible words, she had done her best to shove away every single memory she had of her. Thus, as the years went by, the memories became foggier and foggier, until not even the sound of her voice remained; it helped ease the torment of the loss, as no one ever bothered to try and give her any comfort. She remembered that some time after her mother's passing, her father had made it a point to take down every single portrait they had of her; it seemed as though he had a similar desire to forget.

Nevertheless, there were some things about her mother that she couldn't forget: the way her long dark hair would gleam in the light, the warmth of her embraces, the adoration in her eyes whenever she looked at her, and the beauty of her smiles. Recalling that much was enough to create a dull ache in her chest, and she gloomily cast her gaze down at the floor.

"The Hokage also announced that Team 7 was the only Genin team in Konoha to have made it so far without losing any members," Hanabi continued, thankfully distracting Hinata from dwelling on sad memories any longer. "He said that, considering everything you had to go through, it was a very impressive achievement. Only an extremely efficient and experienced team would be able to do it."

"We…all won?" she asked slowly. Despite everything, a small, relieved grin began to tug at her lips. So Naruto _had_ made it.

"Yeah," affirmed Hanabi with a nod of her head. "Both your teammates passed too."

"You said we were the only team from Konoha?" inquired Hinata. "What, were there others?"

"One from Suna made it all the way," Hanabi said. "But that's all I heard."

It seemed that Hanabi heard bits of everything that was going on around the village. But when you looked at the circumstances, it made it a certain amount of sense. Hanabi was small and quiet, and she resided in the Hyuga Estate, a veritable hub of gossip and information. Adults would talk about whatever they wanted without worrying about a small girl who happened to be standing nearby. All Hanabi needed was an open ear, and she'd come across tons of useful information.

Hinata's thoughts returned to her match against Neji. She would be fighting him in an arena before the entire village, not to mention various guests from other nations. And yet, she only wound up worrying about impressing one spectator out of all of them… Her father.

If she could beat Neji, the genius of the Hyuga Clan, she would finally be able to prove to him that she was capable of being the heiress. She could finally prove to everyone that she wasn't an embarrassing failure or blemish to the perfection of the Hyuga Clan. She quickly realized that she _had_ to win, no matter what the cost. This was going to be her best—and probably only—chance to display her prowess to her father. But if she was going to win…

"I need to start training," she said out loud. "Right now. I'm nowhere near good enough to beat Neji the way I am now. I don't have any time to lose…" She didn't feel like training. She was hungry and sore; she'd have liked nothing better than to have a big meal brought to her and then go to sleep. _But…that's not what Naruto would do._

She got off her bed and stood up, inserting her feet back into her sandals. Hanabi quickly got up as well, looking like she was going to follow her out.

"I… Hanabi, you don't need to help me train," Hinata said, looking down at her little sister fondly. "I wasn't talking to you when I said I needed to start training."

"No, I know that," Hanabi responded. "But I think that I can still help you."

"But how?" asked Hinata, confused. Though her father never wasted an opportunity to remind her that Hanabi was stronger than she had been at that age, they were still on quite unequal terms. Even if she was an embarrassment to her father, Hinata wasn't so unskilled as to lose to her little sister in a fight. If Hanabi wanted to spar with her, there was the very real possibility that Hinata would badly wound her.

"Father's been teaching me some higher-level techniques lately, saying that I need to prepare for becoming a Genin," Hanabi said. "I haven't quite gotten the hang of them, but I could just repeat his instructions so you can learn it."

"What kinds of things has he been teaching you?" Hinata asked. She felt a tinge of sadness that her father would be teaching things to Hanabi in advance, while he had left her to learn things on her own.

"Well, he's been teaching me how to concentrate chakra into specific body parts other than my hands," she said. "He's taught me how to focus it into my feet so I can walk up walls and trees and things. I've almost completely mastered it by now!" Hanabi's voice was filled with pride as she spoke, and Hinata couldn't help but grin.

"I've already learned how to walk up walls like that, though," she said. "Kakashi-sensei taught me on the mission to Wave. If that's all he's taught you, then…"

"No, that's not all!" Hanabi said quickly. "Have you learned how to walk on water yet?"

"I… No…" Hinata admitted uneasily. "But I'm sure that it would be the same as tree climbing, wouldn't it?"

"No," said Hanabi, shaking her head. "He told me that you have to control your chakra differently. I haven't mastered it yet, but I can tell you what to do." For some reason, Hanabi looked very eager to help her with her training.

"Okay," said Hinata reluctantly. "I guess you could teach me what I have to do." Hanabi couldn't get hurt by doing this, and it sounded like a useful skill Hinata could add to her arsenal. Hanabi's face lit up happily.

"Come on then!" she said excitedly. "I know the perfect place we can train!" She grabbed Hinata by the hand and pulled her along as she ran from the room, Hinata stumbling and doing her best to not trip on her feet.

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"Hey, where are you guys keeping Hinata Hyuga?" Naruto asked, leaning over the reception desk of the Konoha Hospital. It was now the day after the preliminaries had concluded; after being escorted back to the village, he'd had a strong desire to find Hinata and find out how she was doing, but had been too tired to do anything other than go home and sleep. The uniformed nurse behind the desk looked at a chart in front of her.

"Let's see…" she said, tracing her finger down the long list of admitted patients. "We had two Hyugas here earlier, but they were checked out this morning. I can't see any other Hinata listed here, so she must have been one of them."

Sighing, Naruto turned from the desk and headed for the exit, each step he took strangely looking like it took an enormous effort. Hinata was probably back at the Hyuga Estate, then. He would have tried to visit her, but he doubted that they would have let him in. He had no idea how she was doing, which was beginning to annoy him. Though the knowledge that she had been checked out was a good sign, he wanted to talk to her himself, if for no other reason than to tell her how great she did in her preliminary match. _Should have come here to see her as soon as I was back in the village_, he fumed.

He almost ran straight into Kakashi as he blindly made for the exit, who grabbed onto his coat to keep him from falling over.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked as soon as Kakashi released him. "Have you seen Hinata?"

"Me? I'm looking for Sakura," Kakashi answered. "As for Hinata, they let her go this morning."

"I know that already!" said Naruto, annoyed. "She's probably back with her clan, and there's no way they'd let me in to see her. Why did she have to go to the hospital in the first place? You guys announced it before we even started the preliminaries."

"Oh, yeah," said Kakashi. "You see, Hinata had a previously existing medical condition, and we had to check up on it to make sure the Forest of Death didn't leave any lasting effects. She's fine, you don't need to worry about her."

"A medical condition?" asked Naruto, confused. She'd never said anything about having a sickness before. "What, does she have a disease?"

"No, just a bad case of asthma," Kakashi answered smoothly. "It acts up from time to time when she's been training too hard. She could've died if we hadn't made sure, you know."

"She's got asthma?" Naruto was now even more confused. Why hadn't she ever shown any signs of it before? And if she could have died, what the hell were they doing letting her do her match before they checked on her? "What about Neji and Sasuke?"

"Oh, right, those two… I don't really know why they were called in. Guy just told me it was a secret, and Kurenai started snapping at me whenever I asked. She's got a real nasty temper, you have no idea…"

"Fine, whatever," Naruto said in annoyance. It looked like Kakashi had simply evaded the question, but he had no real way of proving it. As long as Hinata was okay, though, then there was nothing left to ask his sensei. Except for one thing in particular. "So… Are you planning to train Sakura?" he asked Kakashi.

"Nope," he answered. "I'm not really fit to be training her. She's learning skills that I don't have any mastery over, so I couldn't really help her very much. I'm just here to bring her lunch."

"Her lunch?"

"Yeah," said Kakashi. He held up a lumpy brown paper bag for Naruto to see; a savory aroma was emanating from it and made Naruto's stomach growl, even though he'd already had three bowls of ramen for breakfast. "She's started doing volunteer work around here to brush up on her skills. Apparently they keep her pretty busy, and sometimes she forgets to go home to eat," Kakashi explained. "Her mother makes me deliver her lunch when that happens."

"Sakura works at the hospital now?" Naruto asked, puzzled. "Since when?"

"Volunteers," Kakashi corrected. "She was doing it before the Chunin Exam even started. If you tried getting to know your teammates better, you'd probably have known about it."

"Hey! I know my teammates just fine!" Naruto retorted, crossing his arms indignantly.

"When's Hinata's birthday?"

"It's…uh…it's in…"

"Right."

"Forget about that stuff," Naruto said, his cheeks growing red. "If you're not going to train Sakura, then are you going to be training Hinata?"

"Nope," said Kakashi, shaking his head. "With her taijutsu style, trying to train her would be hopeless for me. She'd be better off getting help from her father, or at least any older member of the Hyuga Clan who'd be willing to tutor her."

"So, if you're not training either of them, then…"

Kakashi sighed. "No, Naruto," he cut in. "Sorry, but I won't be training you."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, outraged. "I'm fighting Sasuke, I'm going to need all the training I can get!"

"Now hold on a second," said Kakashi, raising his hand up to stop him. "Calm down. You're absolutely right, you're going to need a lot of training. But the thing is, I found someone who would be able to train you much better than I could."

"What do you mean? You're the best ninja here! Who else could be training me?"

"I might be good, but I don't really suit your method of fighting," Kakashi explained, waving his hand so that Naruto would quiet down. "You see, even though you have a knack for ninjutsu, I've noticed that your style has gradually changed to utilize more and more advanced taijutsu maneuvers. Obviously you're just a novice, but I think that if you were able to enhance your chakra control and perfect some basic techniques, it'd pave the way for far more advanced and devastating moves later on."

"Like opening the chakra gates?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"Er…maybe," Kakashi answered uncomfortably. "Though certainly not _now_, maybe you could do it some time in the future, if you learn some responsibility. But yes, you could learn to specialize in both ninjutsu and taijutsu, which would make you a very formidable opponent. Enough to beat up Sasuke and anyone else you have to fight in the finals."

Naruto grinned despite himself. "For real? I can beat _anyone_?"

"I can't see why not," said Kakashi. "You've already proven you've got the brains to come up with a good plan and the stamina to carry it out no matter what. You're already pretty good; you've increased your strength at an astounding rate ever since you've become a Genin. All three of you have, actually…"

"So who's this ninja you're talking about?" asked Naruto. "The one who's gonna train me."

"He's a taijutsu expert," said Kakashi. "I think you'll find him suitable." He suddenly turned and stepped out of the way, revealing a person that had been waiting quietly out of Naruto's sight.

"Hah hah! None other than me, of course!" Standing behind Kakashi was the boisterous Might Guy, grinning widely and jabbing his thumb at himself proudly. He looked energetic as usual, and his teeth looked ridiculously shiny, gleaming brightly despite the lobby's soft lighting.

"Wait, wouldn't he be training Neji?" Naruto asked, confused. Why would Guy be helping him instead of his own student?

"No," answered Kakashi. "Neji uses Gentle Fist, remember? Guy's specialty is Strong Fist taijutsu, which is the one you're trying to develop. He'd be perfect to train you."

"That, and Neji refused to let me help him in the first place," Guy added. "I had offered to serve as a moving target for him, but he told me in no uncertain terms that it would be quite unnecessary, that Tenten would be much better to help him. I decided that I couldn't simply stand idle, and asked Kakashi if I could help you, instead. He eventually agreed after much discussion, and so here I am!"

"What kind of discussion?" Naruto asked. The way Kakashi had been talking, having Guy tutor him had been his idea all along.

"You see, at first I thought that I could teach you some taijutsu myself, since that was one of the few areas in which I could tutor you, and because I couldn't find anyone better than me to do it," Kakashi said. "I figured that Guy would be busy with Neji, and so I hadn't bothered to ask him. When he came to me and asked if he could help train one of you three, I knew that you could use his help the most…especially considering that you're fighting an Uchiha. But at the same time, we had to make some limits on what he could teach you."

"Limits?" asked Naruto. "What do you mean? Why would you put a limit on how much I can learn when I need to train as much as possible?"

"Exactly the point I was trying to get across to him!" said Guy indignantly. "And yet he wouldn't listen, no matter how much I tried to convince him!" Kakashi sighed.

"Guy is not to teach you anything declared a forbidden move," he said. "No chakra gates, no Reverse Lotus, and no 'extreme training methods,' or whatever it is he calls it. Just better chakra control, some basic taijutsu moves, and maybe, if you're really lucky, how to execute the Front Lotus correctly. Anything beyond that, and you'll just go overboard and use overly powerful moves everytime we get into a fight. We can't have that, you're enough of a handful as it is."

"His energy and enthusiasm should be encouraged!" Guy said. "It's what makes Lee such a great pupil!"

"Whatever," said Kakashi exasperatedly. "He's in your hands now. Go ahead and train, I've got to take this food to Sakura." He left them standing in the lobby, heading down a nearby hallway to look for his student.

"Well, come along Naruto!" said Guy, flashing another wide grin. "There are many things I plan on teaching you, and we have no time to waste!"

"Uh, sure," said Naruto. If Guy kept up his trend of bouncing off the walls with energy, he had no idea how he would be able to keep up with him, even with his incredible stamina. The Jonin suddenly sprang from his standing position and bolted out of the hospital, leaving Naruto lagging behind as he hurried to catch up with him.

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Paper bag in hand, Kakashi strolled into one of the numerous patients' rooms lining the hallway he was walking down. "I figured I'd find you in here," he said.

Inside the room sat Sakura, who quickly whipped her head to look around at him. She had been facing the bed, where a sleeping Rock Lee lay.

"Kakashi-sensei!" she exclaimed, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"You forgot to go home again," he said, holding up the bag for her to see clearly. Sakura's cheeks went red slightly.

"Sorry, it's just that I get so distracted…" She turned away and didn't continue, staring at the floor. Kakashi walked over to her and placed the bag on the small cart next to her chair, then turned to look at the sleeping Lee. Heavily sedated, he slept peacefully and his chest rose and fell with his breathing. The sedation didn't have anything to do with his injuries, however. The problem was that whenever he was awake, he would start bawling. Even though he was lucky to have escaped the match alive and uncrippled, the humiliation of the defeat had deeply affected him.

Sakura, being nearby, had done her best to comfort him, but she only made it worse. He would wail about his inferiority, saying that he didn't deserve to even be looked at. Considering that he had professed to being in love with her and wanted desperately to impress her, the fact that Sakura had passed the preliminaries no doubt had a hand in his depression. The doctors had no choice but to simply tranquilize him and hope that he would wake up again in a better mood.

Sakura didn't touch the bag of lunch, continuing to gaze at the floor. There was a distant look in her eyes; she was clearly thinking about something else, and it was probably something that brought unease. Kakashi had a feeling he knew what was troubling her.

"So, do you feel ready for your match in the Chunin Exam?" he asked carefully, not wanting to just jump straight to the issue. Sakura slowly turned to look at him and she nodded.

"Yes," she said. "I think I can win."

"That's good," he replied. "Say, did you get a chance to talk to Hinata today?"

"No," she said quietly. "She's already out of the hospital. I think she was let out before I even had a chance to get here."

"Yeah, I haven't had a chance to see her either," he said. "I was hoping to get a chance to see how she was doing."

"If they let her out, I suppose she's doing fine."

"Most likely," he agreed. He paused before continuing. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if she's training right now. She has a really tough opponent, after all. Maybe the toughest out of all three of you."

"Yeah," said Sakura unemotionally, looking back at the floor. Kakashi decided to stop beating around the bush.

"And look at Naruto's match," he said. "I never would have imagined he'd be fighting Sasuke during the finals. Funny, because he's always wanted to beat him, too."

Sakura's eyes got a glazed look to them as she continued to stare at the floor, and she remained deathly silent. An awkward moment passed, and Kakashi felt like sighing.

"Right now, both of your teammates could use your support," he continued gently. "That's something I think you should realize." He looked at her with dismay; though he knew the chances had been slim, he'd hoped her reaction would be more positive. "If you gave them some…sincere encouragement, it really would mean a lot to them. Neither of them have very many people they can turn to."

As Sakura remained quiet, she visibly bit down on her lower lip. "I understand," she finally murmured quietly.

"All right," he said, deciding he had said enough. He'd clearly upset her badly enough as it was, and he wasn't so foolish as to try demanding that she feel a certain way about anything. "See you around. Remember to thank your mom for making you that lunch." Turning away from her, he quietly exited the room. Unseen by him, tears began to trail down Sakura's face and land onto the floor.

88888888

"Well, here we are!" said Hanabi cheerfully. She had led Hinata to the village's hot springs, which was decorated with paved stone pathways and colorful wooden bridges over the steaming pools of water. The woman's bathhouse was next to the steaming pool, and women could be heard inside. It was kept indoors to prevent someone trying to peek, while the men's bathhouse wasn't nearly as covered.

"So, we just…walk across the water?" she asked, peering at the decorative pool nervously. It wasn't meant for bathing, but there would be no harm done if someone were to successfully walk across it. The "successful" part, however, looked like it was a necessity. The steaming water was well over a hundred degrees, creating so much steam that it was almost impossible to see what lay beyond the pool. If she fell in, she'd be scalded.

"Well, obviously we have to gather chakra into our feet first," Hanabi said. "Look, I'll show you what I can do." She folded her hands together, focusing chakra into the soles of her feet. After a moment, she walked over to the pool and stepped onto the water. Her foot skimmed the surface, but didn't penetrate and submerge. She carefully took a step forward and placed her other foot on the water, standing upright. Taking very careful and deliberate steps, she slowly began to walk out deeper into the pool, never once beginning to sink. At times she appeared wobbly, looking like she was about to lose her balance and fall over, but she always managed to steady herself in time.

Just as slowly, she began to head back towards where Hinata stood, walking as if she were trapped in a minefield. She tried to increase her pace as she got closer to the paved ground, but as soon as she did so, her feet sank and the hot water reached up to her ankles. Hanabi yelped and quickly leaped onto the ground, which had only been about a foot away. Breathing heavily, she turned back up to Hinata.

"That's what we do," she said. "I haven't even come close to perfecting it, though. If I had, I'd be able to run all over the water without any problems. But as soon as I try to walk just a little bit faster, I lose my ability to manipulate the chakra correctly and I start to sink."

"How are we supposed to manipulate it?" Hinata asked. "What did Father say to you?"

"He said that since water isn't a consistent surface, you need to constantly adjust the amount of chakra you're emitting from your foot," Hanabi said slowly, struggling to remember the exact instructions. "You can't just gather a set amount into your feet like with wall climbing, or else you'll sink. You need to continuously emit it to keep up with the changing water. And you need to do it just right, too, or you'll sink."

Hinata looked at the water and sighed. She wished her father could have started teaching her these kinds of things when she had been Hanabi's age. No doubt, her little sister was the top of her class in the Ninja Academy due to all the advanced things she was learning. She wondered vaguely how things would have been for her if she had been the best student in the Academy instead of Sasuke. Would Naruto have noticed her then? Shaking those thoughts away, she stared at the pool and walked towards it.

"I'll try now," she said, folding her hands together and gathering chakra into the soles of her feet. Remembering what Hanabi told her, she took a step into the water. Her foot submerged slightly, then rose back up to rest on the surface of the water. She hadn't risked falling into the pool, as her balance was kept in the foot still on dry land. Taking a deep breath, she quickly placed her other foot in the water.

It sank slightly as well, and she stumbled as her feet struggled to stay on the surface. She continued to emit precise amounts of chakra from her feet, and she successfully balanced out. She stood upright, and realized that she was actually doing it. She was standing on the water without sinking!

Very carefully, she slowly placed one foot in front of the other, then repeated the process as she walked across the surface of the pool. Her feet would sometimes submerge slightly, but never deep or long enough to make her leap in pain. Making it to the middle of the pool, she turned around to face Hanabi, who grinned and waved encouragingly. Carefully walking back, she tried to see if she could successfully increase her pace without sinking like her little sister had. For several steps, she did it.

Then, suddenly, she wasn't standing on the surface any longer. She sank like a rock, letting out a scream of surprise as the steaming pool swallowed her up. She quickly bobbed back to the surface, and she quickly began to swim back to the ground where Hanabi stood. The scalding water burned her skin, blinding her as the pool angrily frothed around her.

Making it to solid ground, she planted her hands on the pavement and quickly pulled herself out as Hanabi tugged on her arms to help her. She collapsed, laying on her stomach and breathing raggedly. Steam rose from her skin and she winced from the pain the water had inflicted on her. Trying to figure out where she had gone wrong, she could only assume that, in her quicker pace, the chakra she was emitting had fallen out of sync with the changing water. Without the chakra being sent to the right place, she lost her ability to float and immediately sank.

She got up into a sitting position and groaned, looking at the steaming pool. It seemed to bubble up in defiance at her, daring her to try again. Her sweater, soaked by hot water, continued to burn and sting her skin wherever it touched her. She quickly took it off, revealing her black undershirt. Her pants created the same problem, but she wasn't about to take them off in public.

"We can quit if you want to," Hanabi said, concern in her voice. "We can just practice the new Gentle Fist moves Father has been teaching me."

"No," said Hinata, narrowing her eyes at the water. "I'm not going to do anything else until I get this done. I'm not going to leave anything half-done. I need to perfect one thing before moving onto the next."

"Well, okay…" said Hanabi unsurely. Hinata determinedly stood up and headed back towards the edge of the water, which suddenly steamed up violently as she approached.

_Mock me, will you?_ Hinata thought, a rare anger filling her. Folding her hands together again, she concentrated chakra into the soles of her feet. Taking a deep breath, she stepped onto the water to try again.

88888888

"Why are we doing this here?" asked Naruto, looking at the small stream before him skeptically. "Why couldn't we just go to the hot springs? Then we wouldn't have had to walk so far."

"Out here, we are closer to nature, letting you train harmoniously!" Guy said. "Without such distractions as other people and surrounding buildings, you can relax and have a better chance of perfecting a technique faster!"

"All right, whatever…" said Naruto, still not convinced. "I still don't see why I need to learn this at all. I should be learning some powerful taijutsu moves. How is learning to walk on water going to help me beat Sasuke? There won't even be any water in the arena in the first place!"

"It's not so much the actual ability that's important as it is what you learn from it," said Guy, pointing his finger into the air as he lectured Naruto. "You will learn to manipulate chakra in a deliberate and complicated fashion, which is essential for learning taijutsu. The moves you performed by copying Lee were useful, but nowhere nearly as powerful as they could be. You see, by learning how to climb up trees, you were essentially taught how to gather chakra into a specific part of your body. This is incredibly useful for a multitude of reasons, with the ability to drastically increase your attack power certainly not the least. However, this skill is still in its beginning stages for you. Here, let me show you an example."

He left Naruto's side and walked over to a nearby tree, which had a thick stump. Naruto watched him curiously as he folded his hands together, concentrating his chakra.

"Now watch this!" he commanded. He charged at the tree and made a spinning leap into the air, extending his leg as he flew. His leg collided with the side of the trunk with a dull _splat_, leaving a large crater when he landed. The tree wobbled dangerously, but didn't fall over.

"That was the Leaf Hurricane when I simply focused my chakra into my foot," he explained from where he stood. "Nothing fancy or terribly advanced, you could probably do it, at least on a smaller scale. Now, watch _this_."

He walked over to a large boulder that was farther away, leaning up against the side of the nearby cliff where a waterfall cascaded down into the stream. Naruto had to squint to see, but Guy was visibly concentrating his chakra a second time. Letting out a fierce cry, Guy suddenly charged at the rock and slammed his fist into it. The boulder exploded, sending large chunks of rubble flying in multiple directions as a cloud of gray dust obscured everything. Guy calmly walked out of the cloud and back to where Naruto was standing.

"Now that," the Jonin said, "takes considerable chakra control to accomplish, even for someone with as much strength as me. _That's_ the kind of thing you can accomplish if you learn how to manipulate your chakra well enough to walk on water. Simply put, if you don't learn how to do this, then you don't learn how to do advanced taijutsu."

"All right, all right," said Naruto. He still looked on learning how to walk on water as a chore, but he was convinced. This was the legendary Might Guy after all: he had to know what he was talking about.

"So tell me, what is this advanced chakra manipulation technique?" he asked, ready to learn it and get it out of the way. "How do I do it?"

"You need to learn how to concentrate a _specific_ amount of chakra into a specific body part, not just however much you want," Guy said. "With the tree climbing exercise, it simply didn't matter: all you had to do was use chakra to stick to a solid surface like a suction cup. It didn't matter how much you used, it only mattered that it was in the right place. Now, walking on water requires a much more acute dispersion of chakra. Learning to do it is actually _harder_ than advanced taijutsu, since you need to constantly pump your feet full of chakra to keep floating. You won't need to do that with taijutsu; you just concentrate the right amount, and you're done.

"With walking on water, you need to emit a constant amount of chakra, or you'll sink. Basically, there are only three things you need to remember to do: concentrate the right amount of chakra, keep it in sync with the moving water as you walk across it, and replace the chakra you lose, never falling below or exceeding the amount needed. Memorize that, and then go out and try it."

"Uh, right," said Naruto. He tried to make sure he memorized everything Guy had just instructed him to do, then walked over to the water's edge. Concentrating a precise amount of chakra into both of his feet, he stepped into the water.

He sank immediately; he hadn't even floated for half a second before he plunged into the cold stream. Inhaling a mouthful of water, he scrambled back up onto the shore, spluttering and soaking wet.

"You see?" said Guy, who didn't appear concerned that Naruto had failed miserably. "If I had tried teaching you how to do some advanced taijutsu moves instead of making sure that you had good chakra control, it would have been a disaster. Now try it again!"

Naruto tried again, and fell straight into the water for a second time. Getting out of the water, he tried a third time, which was no more successful. Guy never lost his enthusiasm, constantly encouraging him to just try again and saying that he'd just somehow get it right the very next time he tried, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. After what Naruto estimated was twenty minutes, he was feeling exhausted and annoyed.

Climbing out of the water, he sat down and began taking his soaked clothes off. "Maybe these are the problem," he muttered, taking off his pants and revealing weights strapped onto both of his ankles.

"Where did you get those?" Guy asked curiously.

"Ninja Academy," Naruto answered, unstrapping them. "They were in an equipment closet. No one was using 'em. I figured I need to be fast, so I took them and started wearing them all over the place."

"How much do they weigh?"

"Twenty-five kilograms each," he grunted, hefting one of them up with his left hand. He let it drop onto the ground with a thud. "I know I won't be as fast as Rock Lee very soon, but I figure every little bit helps."

"You truly are an astounding pupil!" Guy declared, looking down at him with admiration. "Kakashi has no idea how lucky he is to have received such a great Genin, who is so eager to improve himself! You burn with the passion of youth!"

"If you say so," Naruto muttered. He stood up, now completely naked save for his boxers and headband. Without his heavy leg weights he felt much faster, though he probably wasn't really any better off so soon. At least now that he was fifty kilograms lighter, maybe he'd have an easier time with floating right.

Concentrating his chakra into the soles of his bare feet, he walked forward into the water yet again. To his fury, being lighter didn't help him out at all. Falling into the water, he quickly made it back to the surface and waded back up to the shore. Walking back to solid ground was beginning to turn into a routine now, which annoyed him. He was making no progress.

_I've got to get this done if I want to learn anything good_, he thought to himself, glaring at the stream as it merrily sparkled in the sunlight. Keeping that in mind, he focused chakra into his feet and tried once again.

88888888

Hinata was gradually having an easier time of walking on the water, which was a relief. She was making progress. Learning quickly, she no longer had to walk carefully and deliberately just to keep floating. She could walk at a normal pace now, not having to worry about sinking to the bottom of the pool if she walked casually. She had gotten the hang of manipulating her chakra well enough to do that. Unfortunately, breaking into a jog or even a speed walk would disrupt her delicate balance of chakra distribution, causing her to sink.

Satisfied with her progress, she walked back towards the paved ground for a short break, trying to increase her speed by any amount possible. Getting onto solid ground, Hanabi looked up at her in awe.

"I've been trying to do this for weeks, and you're already better at this than me after less than a day!" she said. Hinata had to admit that she was making rapid progress; after only several hours she had gone from being dangerously close to sinking with each step she took to being capable of walking normally without worry.

Exhaling deeply, Hinata sat down and hugged her knees to her chest. This exercise was exhausting to learn, as it required constant chakra use. She wondered what she was doing wrong, what was keeping her from perfecting this technique. How could she learn to run on water without sinking? Simply trying it could cause her to sustain a serious injury.

As she sat pondering, Hanabi suddenly started yelling right next to her, surprising her.

"Hey!" her little sister screeched. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She took off from where she stood and ran towards the woman's bathhouse; Hinata quickly turned around to see what was going on.

A large man with spiky white hair, long enough to reach the ground, was peeping into the bathhouse through a hole in the wall. He was wearing a red vest and had what appeared to be a rolled-up scroll on his back. At the sound of Hanabi's voice, he whipped his head around to see who had been yelling at him, and he rapidly tore himself away from the wall, a surprised expression on his face. Apparently, he hadn't noticed that anyone else was nearby.

"You pervert!" Hanabi yelled, running up to him. "What do you think you're doing by looking in there?!"

Hinata merely stood by, curiously watching their exchange.

"I'm conducting research!" said the old man adamantly. Realizing that he had been caught by a child, and not someone with authority, his worried look quickly disappeared. He had two red streaks running down his face from his eyes and a strangely shaped headband, which had the symbol for oil marked on it. Hinata stared at him puzzlement; she had never heard of the Hidden Oil Village before.

"What kind of research has you peeping at women in a bathhouse?" yelled Hanabi furiously. Hinata never knew that she had such a temper.

"I'm a novelist!" said the Oil ninja. "Now keep it down, or you'll get me caught!" Turning his back on her, he sat back down to peep into the hole in the wall.

"What kind of a novel would you be writing?" screamed Hanabi. "That's the worst excuse I've ever heard!"

The man gave an audible sigh, and his shoulders slumped. He turned back away from the peephole and stood up to his full height, reaching into one of his pockets. He pulled out an orange-covered book and held it up for Hanabi to see; Hinata could see it clearly. The title _Makeout Paradise_ was on the cover.

"I write _adult_ novels, little Hyuga," he growled, revealing that he had enough familiarity with the Hidden Leaf Village to recognize a member of the Hyuga Clan. "I doubt you'll have heard of them, much less read them."

Hanabi looked like she was ready to explode into more yelling, but Hinata suddenly intruded on the conversation.

"I recognize that book," she said quietly, walking towards them. They quickly turned to look at her in surprise; for some reason, the man's eyes grew wide with what looked like shock at the sight of her, which struck her as an overreaction. "Kakashi, my Jonin sensei, reads from it all the time." After spotting the book in this stranger's hand, she couldn't resist stepping forward to speak with him; a chance to meet the man who wrote her sensei's favorite book was something she simply couldn't pass up.

"…Kakashi?" asked the man, staring at her. "Kakashi Hatake?" Hinata nodded, and he managed a small grin. Hanabi still fumed with anger, but she was no longer yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Who would've thought you'd end up with someone like him…" he muttered, turning away and pocketing the book. His choice of words suggested he previously knew her, but Hinata had never seen him in her life. At least, not that she could remember.

"You know Kakashi?" she asked.

"Sure," the man answered nonchalantly. "I was the sensei of the ninja who was his sensei."

"Wait, so you're a Leaf Jonin then?" Hinata asked.

"Silly girl, I'm no mere Jonin," he proclaimed proudly. "I'm Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin!"

"One of the Third Hokage's pupils?" Hanabi quickly asked, her tone suddenly turning respectful.

Hinata was similarly amazed; she'd heard a few vague things of the Sannin. Apparently, all three were incredibly amazing ninjas with many years of experience, powerful enough to rival a kage of any shinobi village. However, for some reason or another they each ended up moving away from the village; the adults never seemed willing to go into greater detail where this was concerned. Never in her life had Hinata imagined she might meet one of these legendary ninjas.

"That's right!" he said, clearly pleased about being recognized. "Now if you'll excuse me…" To Hinata's astonishment, he promptly turned away and sat back down to look into the hole in the wall of the women's bathhouse. Apparently, this man didn't particularly care about conducting himself appropriately in front of two impressionable young girls.

Hinata frowned slightly in disappointment. Meeting a ninja of near mythic status was an incredibly unexpected surprise, and his apparent familiarity with her had piqued her interest; she'd hoped to speak with him longer, but it was clear he had no interest in giving them any more attention. In contrast, Hanabi's outrage swiftly returned, and she looked like she was about to start yelling again, regardless of Jiraiya's ninja status.

"Come on Hanabi," said Hinata, quickly intervening. She knew virtually nothing about this Jiraiya; if Hanabi provoked him into anger, she had no idea what he would do to them. "Let's go and train some more, I'll show you how to walk normally on the water." She grabbed hold of her little sister's hand and led her back to the pool. The prospect of advancing such a tricky jutsu was apparently too good for Hanabi to pass up, though she shot a fierce glare at Jiraiya's back as they walked away.

For the next half hour or so, the two sisters carefully walked across the steaming pool, with Hinata instructing Hanabi how to walk across the water at a slightly increased pace as she simultaneously tried to figure out how she could make herself capable of running on water instead of merely walking. She tried adding extra chakra to her feet, then adding less. Both of those experiments nearly made her sink into the water, and she had to quickly stabilize the chakra to balance herself out.

Under Hinata's guidance, Hanabi quickly learned how to walk across the water at a casual pace. Elated, she tried testing to see if she could run around, but immediately began to sink and shrieked. Hinata quickly grabbed onto her arm to keep her from sinking into the steaming pool, bringing her back up.

"You're doing great, Hanabi," Hinata said encouragingly. "But we can't run on the water." The two decided to take a break, walking back to solid ground and sitting down to look at the pool as they panted with exhaustion.

"Thank you," Hanabi said. "I don't know how long it would have taken me to learn all of this on my own."

"Sure," said Hinata, grinning affectionately. "You taught me how to walk on water in the first place, it's the least I could do." She turned back to look at the pool gloomily. "I still don't know how I can start running, though…"

"I could help you with that," a voice suddenly said behind her. The two girls swiftly turned around to see Jiraiya grinning down at them. It looked like he had finished with his "research."

"Really?" asked Hinata, surprised.

"Sure. I don't have anything better to do. Now try doing it again."

"Uh…all right." Hinata stood up and walked over to the edge of the water, while Hanabi remained sitting, too tired to resume training so soon. Taking a deep breath as usual, Hinata concentrated the chakra into the soles of her feet and walked onto the water. At this point, she no longer had to worry about sinking as long as she only moved at a reasonable pace.

Jiraiya suddenly appeared next to her, walking quickly across the water. He must have been as good as he claimed; she hadn't even seen him pause to gather chakra into his feet.

"Good job so far," he commented. "Pretty good for someone who's barely learned this today. Now try and jog." He began to jog in place, looking comical in his colorful clothing, like some sort of circus attraction. Hinata grimaced but nodded, and dutifully tried to start jogging. She began to sink almost the second she placed her first foot forward, and she quickly steadied herself before she could sink to the bottom.

"I think I know what your problem is," said Jiraiya, walking up alongside her. "You're basically forcing your chakra into the water, which causes an imbalance once you try to speed up. Try to ease up on the chakra you emit, and try again."

Hinata nodded her head again, and adjusted the way she sent her chakra out. It quickly caused a brief imbalance even as she was standing, and she wobbled slightly before she automatically steadied herself. She began walking again, gradually building up into a jog. For the first few seconds, she was able to speed walk, but she began to sink the instant she tried to go faster, and she stopped to right herself. Jiraiya once again walked up to her.

"Should I use even less chakra?" she asked.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "You've got the exact right amount of chakra in the right place, anything less and you'll start to sink where you stand. The only thing you've got holding you back is the fact that you can't quite get the chakra in sync with the moving water. Every single ripple in the water affects your balance, and the chakra you've gathered automatically takes care of it. But those are only the tiny ones. One you start trying to run, making big splashes all over the place, it seriously disrupts the flow and your chakra can't keep up. It's spread evenly throughout your entire foot, and so it can't deal with the sudden change because there's not enough in some areas. You need to try focusing the chakra in specific areas of your foot, like the front and toes. That's where your feet make contact with the water when you break into a run. If you're jogging, keep the chakra near the front and the heel, since you land each step with your entire foot. You got that?"

"Yes," said Hinata, nodding. _Front, toes, and heel_, she thought, burning the words into her mind.

"Good," said Jiraiya. "Keep that in mind and try again. Focus the chakra into the right areas of the foot, and then it will take care of the imbalances by itself. You won't need to worry about keeping every single pulse of chakra perfectly in sync with every single ripple. Not even I would be able to do that."

"Okay," said Hinata, taking a deep breath. She began to walk, then slowly began to pick up her speed. She began speed walking, then immediately went for jogging. She quickly changed the way her chakra was distributed, focusing it specifically in the front and heel. She mentally prepared herself to start sinking once her foot touched the surface of the water, knowing that it would burn if she completely sank.

To her surprise, her foot was able to cope with the change, and she continued her jog, bringing her other foot down. It was surprisingly easy to shift the balance of chakra within her foot, most likely because it was such a small area of space.

"Good job," called Jiraiya encouragingly. "Now try running!"

Focusing chakra into the front of her foot and toes, Hinata broke into a run. She was able to maintain her balance perfectly, with her feet breaking the surface but never sinking. _I'm doing it! _she realized ecstatically.

"Excellent!" said Jiraiya, grinning widely. Hinata shifted the balance of chakra within her foot and slowed down to a jog, and then to a walk. She began to head back towards the shore, with Jiraiya following.

"You learned how to do it in one day…" Hanabi said, looking up at her, eyes wide. "That's incredible!" Hinata felt her cheeks turn red.

"It is pretty impressive. You definitely are a quick learner," Jiraiya said. He looked at her thoughtfully. "Did you compete in this year's Chunin Exam?" he asked curiously.

"Yes," she said quietly; embarrassed by all the compliments, her cheeks continued to burn and she kept from looking directly at him. "The finals are in a month."

"You made it all the way to the finals? _Very_ impressive. Who are you going to fight?"

"…My cousin," Hinata said slowly. "Neji Hyuga."

"You're fighting Neji?" Jiraiya looked down at the ground and rubbed his chin. "Wow, talk about family feud…" He suddenly looked her in the eyes. "I've heard a little about him. You're going to need some serious training if you want to beat someone like him."

"I know…" said Hinata sadly. "I've mastered walking on water, but still…"

"Where's your dad at? Isn't he helping you get ready?"

"I'm not sure where he is right now," she said quietly, casting her gaze upon the ground. "And he hasn't helped me train in a long time."

Jiraiya frowned deeply at this, looking away and shaking his head. Standing silently for a moment, he gave her a long, scrutinizing gaze, then sighed and placed his hands on his hips. "Tell you what," he finally said. "I can try and train you myself. I'm familiar enough with Hyuga techniques to give you some instruction."

"…R-Really?" asked Hinata, eyes widening. One of the legendary Sannin was offering to train _her_? Such a thing sounded far too good to be true.

"Sure, I'm sticking around until the finals anyway. I've got nothing better to do. Just come back here around noon tomorrow, and then we can start."

"Wow…" Hinata was speechless. "Th-Thank you, Jiraiya…sensei…" She bowed her head to him gratefully, and he gave her a small grin.

"Don't mention it," he said. "See you then." With that, he turned around and began to walk away. Within a few moments, the steam from the hot pools began obscuring his outline until he completely faded from view.

Hinata looked down at Hanabi, who stared back up at her with an amazed expression. "With someone like him teaching you…" she murmured, but trailed off.

_Maybe… _Hinata thought as she went to pick up her damp jacket. _Maybe I really do stand a chance to win._

Leaving the hot springs, the two sisters began to head back to the Hyuga Estate.

88888888

Naruto continued trying to walk on water long after the sun had set behind the nearby cliffside, covering everything in darkness. Being so wet, Naruto was now freezing in the chilly evening. He got better at floating by a margin, managing to balance himself out in the water as his feet were entirely submerged. Finally, even Guy seemed to have decided that enough was enough…for today, at least. He allowed Naruto to quit, and the Genin gratefully began to get dressed.

"What's stopping me from getting this right?" he growled angrily. He'd already mastered tree climbing, so he shouldn't have been having such a hard time with this. It didn't make any sense.

"Well I can tell you one thing," said Guy. "You have the worst chakra control I've ever seen." Before Naruto even had a chance to feel insulted, he quickly burst out in a passionate vow. "But that only increases the sense of victory once we accomplish this strenuous task! You will be an unstoppable fighting machine, just like Lee!" He calmed down slightly before continuing. "Meet me here tomorrow morning, so we can resume training. Now go home and get rested, you need to replenish your energy. Make sure you keep on using those leg weights!"

With that, Guy suddenly took off, running back towards the village and leaving Naruto sitting like an idiot. Grumbling to himself, he dutifully strapped the leg weights back onto his ankles and began walking back home.

88888888

Night had fallen on the Hidden Leaf Village, and a full moon shone its pale white light down on Earth. Hayate Gekko breathed a sigh of relief as he walked down the village streets. It would be a full month before he had to go back to serving as a referee for the Genin fighting each other to death in the Chunin Exam. It was such a thankless job, too. He was the one who had to decide when to call a match when it looked like someone was about to die, which wasn't always easy to do. On top of that, he was the one constantly risking his neck when the Genin would unleash huge attacks on each other in a desperate attempt to win. And did anyone ever consider how much that sucked for _him_? Of course not. All anyone cared about was the competing Genin.

He suddenly saw two dark silhouettes standing on a nearby rooftop; it appeared that they were engaged in a deep conversation. Despite recognizing most of Konoha residents, he wasn't able to identify who they were and curiosity got the better of him. He stealthily hopped up onto the building and snuck over to where the two people were standing, pressing his back against the wall and out of their sight. Once he was within earshot, he recognized the two voices almost immediately. The Genin Kabuto and the Sand Jonin Baki. What did they have to discuss?

"Doesn't he ever sleep?" Kabuto asked.

"Gaara?" replied Baki. "No. He's an insomniac. If he falls asleep, then the monster within him will take over and eat away at his sanity. Though really, his state of mind can be called into question as it is."

"Heh." The two remained silent for nearly a minute, long enough for Hayate to consider just hopping to the ground and heading home. Then Kabuto spoke again, ensuring that he would remain planted where he stood. "Has the Kazekage communicated at all with you since the end of the Forest of Death stage?"

"No, sending communications are too risky. They could be intercepted. In fact, what we're doing right now is risky enough. Someone could be listening in on us."

"Who would be listening in on us? We're just having a pleasant conversation. Besides, I don't think anyone would suspect anything of our meeting here if they saw us."

"If you say so, kid," replied Baki; there was skepticism in his voice, but it seemed he was unwilling to argue the point. "What is it that the Kazekage should be telling me?"

"The Otokage tells me that the negotiations ended positively. The entente will likely be expanding to include two more nations, and…the Kazekage has agreed to commit himself fully to the upcoming war."

_Entente? War? What is this about?_

Baki grunted. "I see. Bad news for the daimyo, it seems."

"It's too bad he couldn't see for himself what he was doing to his country. If he had kept you all going down that road, it would only have been a matter of time before the Land of Fire swallowed you up."

"Don't remind me," growled the Sand Jonin. "The Leaf Village has had this coming for decades, and Fire Country has had it coming for even longer. High time we give them what they deserve."

"Once we see this through, your country will be restored to its rightful place," Kabuto said in a tone clearly meant to be comforting. "Just don't forget who were the ones who helped make it all happen."

"You're talking to the wrong person," Baki snapped. "If your emperor wants to be given some sort of reward for participating in a war he started, he'll have to take it up with the Wind Lord. Me, I'm just a soldier."

"One with no time for politics," Kabuto observed. "The best kind."

"Whatever you say, kid. I'm just going to do my job. You and your friends better do yours."

"Victory will require everyone to do their part. We have no intention of making your land do all the work. The Otokage wants this more than anyone."

"Giving the Land of Fire a beating? You'd be surprised, kid. You'd be surprised."

_I'm not even positive what it is they're talking about, but it's obviously nothing good__…__ I need to inform Lord Hokage of what I've just heard,_ Hayate realized. He quickly leaped off, accidentally making a small noise as he sprang from the rooftop.

He made it to the rooftop of another building before suddenly being cut off by none other than Baki. They had heard him.

"Well well, if it isn't the proctor…" said the Sand Jonin, grinning malevolently.

Not pausing for an instant, Hayate quickly pulled the sword off his back and leaped towards Baki. He wasn't going to play any games here; whatever was going on, Baki clearly wasn't his friend.

"Crescent Moon Dance!" he cried, slamming his blade down on Baki, who moved out of the way just in time. Instead of splitting his head open, Hayate had merely cut into his shoulder. He quickly tried to retract it, but it was held fast. Blood was splattered all over the place from the wound, but Baki merely grinned.

"Impressive maneuver," he said with amusement. "But blocking a solid sword is no problem… My wind blade, on the other hand, can't be stopped by anything!" He held up his hand, and a fierce gale blew as he gathered wind into his palm.

_Can't let him finish the jutsu!_ The blade was quickly forming, but that didn't mean Hayate was helpless. Letting go of his useless sword, he quickly balled his hand into a fist and slammed it into Baki's face. The Sand-nin let out a cry of rage and stumbled backward, and Hayate quickly pulled out a kunai. Baki's wind blade had been aborted by the interference, and he quickly tried to reach for a kunai of his own. However, having a large sword stuck in his shoulder proved to be a major hindrance, and he barely had a kunai in his hands when Hayate knocked it away and attacked him, stabbing the kunai deep into his chest.

More blood spilled out of the wound and coated Baki's vest, and the Sand ninja let out a scream of pain as he fell back. Hayate quickly punched him again, and Baki instinctively raised his hand to block his face. However, Hayate quickly slugged him in the stomach, then kicked one of his legs out from under him, sending him crashing into a heap.

Baki spat blood, and visibly tried to create another wind blade with his hand, starting a gale. Hayate stomped his foot down on Baki's wrist, shattering it. The wind blade stopped forming, and Baki let out a cry in agony. The large sword was still embedded in his shoulder, and he was completely crippled. Hayate twirled the kunai in his hand, readying to finish Baki off.

He raised it up high…and suddenly fell when another kunai was thrust into the base of his skull. As if his bones had been turned to liquid, he collapsed without uttering a sound.

"You Sand ninjas really are nothing without us Sound-nin, you know that?" Kabuto asked smugly, standing over the slain Leaf shinobi with his arms folded across his chest. Baki merely scowled as he knelt down by his side to heal his various wounds. The moon shone down on Hayate's corpse. It wouldn't be discovered by anyone until the next day, and by then it would already be too late.

88888888

Hanzaki Fuma walked down the paved streets of the capital, making his way toward the Imperial Palace. The chilly morning air stung through his uniform, but it didn't particularly bother him; indeed, he barely noticed it. Even in the middle of summer, the climate of the Empire of Sound was fresh and cool. Unlike countries farther south, there weren't many days where the temperature rose above eighty degrees, and most winters brought at least a couple inches of snow. Though outsiders may have been uncomfortable with the temperature, Hanzaki simply had no problem with it.

However, while he generally enjoyed taking a relaxing morning stroll (it was his favorite time of day), he walked down the street with haste, his face adorned with a grim expression. He hadn't paid this city a visit to go for a leisurely walk and sightsee; he had an important appointment to keep.

Arashi, the nominal head of the Fuma Clan and a very high-ranking official in Orochimaru's Elite Guard, had sent him a summons the week before. When the messenger had arrived at his residence, it had come as a bit of a shock; despite their last meeting ending on a relatively positive note, he had strongly suspected that Arashi had no intention of ever speaking with him again. Which was, more or less, an arrangement he had been perfectly fine with. Ever since Arashi had gotten himself—and the majority of their clan—tangled up with the Sound Village, he began to change as a person and their relationship quickly soured. The situation had very nearly grown violent; however, finding himself unwilling to fight his own family, Hanzaki simply left, declaring that he'd have nothing more to do with Orochimaru. The small portion of the clan that agreed with him followed, and they settled down in a small town near the border, as far away from government influence as possible.

There, they had lived as if in a bubble; Orochimaru's coup and the sweeping reforms that followed were largely just things that they heard on the radio or read in newspapers. A handful of times, a squad of Elite Guards would pay the town a visit, in search of bloodline carriers and undocumented foreigners, but finding none, they left the settlement in peace. Hanzaki had been slightly surprised by the lack of harassment; he had half expected Arashi to come up with an excuse to declare him a criminal and order for his arrest.

Instead, about a year after their falling out, he had received a summons to meet him in the capital. Suspicious of a trap, Hanzaki had been reluctant to go, but he ultimately swallowed his trepidation and made the journey to visit him. A small part of him had hoped his cousin had realized the error of his ways and was planning to cut his ties with Orochimaru. The truth, unfortunately, was far different…but at least it hadn't been a trap.

Arashi apologized for their past disagreements, and offered him a high-ranking position in the Imperial Army as a gesture of reconciliation. Hanzaki, taken completely by surprise, was initially tempted to simply refuse and leave. He knew that Arashi's words were insincere, and that there must have been some ulterior motive for him to make such an offer. Again, however, he ended up ignoring his doubts. Though he might not have liked who was in charge of it, he still had a strong desire to serve his country, and joining the Army meant he wouldn't take orders from, or have anything to do with, the Hidden Sound Village. The promise of a steady salary made the offer even more tempting. Striking out on their own, Hanzaki and his kin had since fallen on hard times, and getting an envelope of cash delivered to him every month (essentially for doing nothing, as Arashi informed him that he'd be a "reservist") was simply too good to pass up.

In the end, Hanzaki accepted, much to the delight of Arashi. He shook Hanzaki's hand, had him fill out a couple of forms, then gave him a uniform and an ID card and sent him on his way. Returning to his family, he threw the uniform into a closet and kept quiet about the entire affair, hoping that his decision wouldn't come back to haunt him later.

And now, out of the blue, Arashi wanted another meeting. Precisely what he wished to discuss with him now was a mystery, though Hanzaki knew it must've been important. It struck him as likely that he was finally being called to service, but there was a chance that this was a family matter; either way, this wasn't a summons that he wanted to ignore. Although he was still slightly apprehensive, he dusted off the uniform Arashi had given him and once again made the long journey to the capital.

Upon his return, he saw that the city looked much the same as it had the last time he had visited: quite pleasant. The streets were free of litter, the buildings were clean and unmarked, and the general mood of the place was lively and hopeful.

He remembered a time, not very many years before, when the city had looked very different. In the days before Orochimaru's rise, it had been a miserable place, with beggars lining the streets and long lines of starving citizens hoping to get some food. Due to the unrest, the daimyo had doubled, then tripled, the size of the garrison defending his palace, which made rioting within the city a rare occurrence. However, in other cities throughout the rest of the country, violence had been far more common.

Frowning at the memories, Hanzaki paused to check and make sure he was taking the quickest path to reach the palace. He could make out the palace's main tower from where he stood, letting him know that he was at least going in the right general direction. Taking a closer look at his surroundings, he saw with dismay that none of the nearby buildings stood out to him. However, looking farther ahead, he quickly spotted a plaza positioned a couple blocks away, complete with a large decorative water fountain; he recalled seeing it the last time he was in the city. Unless the streets had been drastically changed, then he was indeed taking the fastest route. Giving himself a satisfied nod, he resumed his brisk pace.

He found himself slightly curious as to whether the emperor was currently in the city; the thought of being in the same building as him made him want to grimace. To Hanzaki's knowledge, the emperor's real base of operations was the Hidden Sound Village, and that he spent the majority of his time there. Hanzaki had had the displeasure of visiting the place once before. Unlike other shinobi villages, Otogakure was more of an underground bunker than a settlement, and hardly any ninja training took place there; rather, it was used primarily for conducting horrific experiments on bloodline carriers, political opponents, alleged foreign spies, and other enemies of the state that had been captured. However, also unlike other shinobi villages, Otogakure was actually hidden; it didn't appear on any maps, and its location was a guarded secret.

Hanzaki hoped that the Otokage was currently in the Sound Village rather than the capital, then immediately felt guilty. If Orochimaru really was in the Sound Village, chances were that he was in the middle of torturing some poor prisoner. All the same, the thought of bumping into him at the palace gave him goosebumps.

Letting out a sigh, he pushed the subject out of his mind and continued on his way. Passing the plaza he had seen earlier, he saw that it was currently empty. Though it appeared to be a popular gathering place for the locals, with numerous concrete benches laid out for people to stop and rest, it appeared that it was still too early for residents to stop by. With a raised brow, he noticed that a number of large recruitment posters had been stuck on the walls around the plaza. It seemed like people in this city would be confronted by encouragements to enlist everytime they stopped to take a break.

Leaving the plaza behind, it didn't take long for him to notice that he hadn't escaped the posters. Indeed, the closer he got to the palace, the more propaganda he saw. The sheer volume of it surprised him; during his last visit to Imperial City, there certainly had been some, but not nearly on the scale he was seeing now. Nearly every building lining the street had at least one poster pinned up near the entrance; some had two. Some of them denounced bloodline carriers, while others trumpeted the virtues of the Navy or the Army, decorated with illustrations of mighty battleships or proud soldiers. Still others had portraits of Elite Guard members striking heroic poses, with the word "_STRENGTH_" stamped on the bottom. Yet another variant displayed a high-ranking Army officer, clad in armor modeled on that worn by samurai centuries before. Standing atop a hill, the officer had a katana in one hand and an Imperial banner in the other, the sun shining brightly behind him. Frowning, Hanzaki averted his gaze.

Doing his best to ignore the posters, he kept his eyes glued to the street ahead of him. Reaching a street intersection several minutes later, he made a turn, and paused briefly to admire the sight before him. The palace was now directly ahead, and with over a year having passed since he'd last seen it, he couldn't help but stop and stare. Even from a distance the beauty of the architecture was captivating, and filled him with a sense of nationalistic pride. Though he cared little for the government currently occupying it, the palace's construction predated Orochimaru by over a century.

Built as a gorgeous traditional-style castle, it had none of the design elements introduced by the Far East or the Far West. Intended to serve as a majestic seat of government, and not as an imposing defensive bastion, some might have accused the architects of prizing style over substance. However, succeeding rulers had seen fit to improve the palace's security.

During the turbulent time following the last war, the daimyo had feared an angry mob might storm the castle and murder him, as had happened in the Land of Lightning. He had ordered the area around the palace cleared, and had a tall, thick stone wall constructed around the castle as defense, complete with battlements and towers and possessing a single gatehouse as the only point of entry. Properly manned, the garrison protecting the daimyo would have been able to easily fire their crossbows down at any rioters from the safety of the wall. (Thankfully, as far as Hanzaki knew, they had never needed to do this.)

Then, shortly following Orochimaru's seizure of the throne, a large fire had broken out inside the palace, prompting him to further improve the castle's security. Claiming that the fire had been started by a bloodline carrier as an assassination attempt, he went ahead and ordered the area around the wall to be cleared, and then constructed an incredibly tall wrought iron fence to serve as the first line of defense. Too high for most ninjas to leap over, the fence had some sort of mysterious jutsu or seal protecting it; anyone who touched the metal bars would immediately collapse to the ground, paralyzed. Just like the wall, it had only a single entryway: a simple gate. Tearing his eyes away from the castle's magnificent towers, Hanzaki began heading toward it.

Currently, the gate was left open, but two Elite Guards were posted there, undoubtedly to keep out those who lacked proper clearance; the palace was not open to tourists.

Like Hanzaki, the two men were in full uniform, though theirs differed slightly from his. While his was a dark tan, their apparel was a mix of solid black and dark purple, with the Empire of Sound's insignia printed on their armbands. Stone-faced and standing at attention, they were dressed as if ready for battle, wearing samurai style helmets adorned by large quavers and equipped with weapons pouches and katanas. Hanzaki, meanwhile, was dressed ceremoniously, with a peaked cap as headgear and no weapons in his possession.

As he neared the gate, the Guards eyed him warily, but did not alter their stances. Upon reaching them, one of the men held up a hand to stop him.

"Identification, please," he said politely enough. Evidently the uniform wasn't enough to satisfy them. Hanzaki readily complied, reaching into one of his pockets and producing the plastic ID card his cousin had given him. The guard took it and glanced at it. "What business do you have here, Colonel Fuma?" he asked him.

"I have an appointment with Arashi Fuma," Hanzaki replied. He wondered how long the man would keep him here. During his last visit, Arashi had personally escorted him into the palace, and none of the security personnel had stopped them then; now, he had no real idea what to expect from these men.

"And what is the nature of this meeting?" the Guard asked next, looking up from the card to study Hanzaki's face carefully.

"That was not disclosed to me," he said. "A summons to meet him here was delivered to my home a week ago. I'll only know what this is about once I've had a chance to speak with him." He had a sinking feeling as the man stared at him; it would likely end up taking them a while to confirm he was who he said he was, and he'd have to just stand here and wait for however long it took them.

However, the man only scrutinized him for a moment longer, then slowly nodded. "Very well," he said. He turned to glance at the other Guard, gave him a single curt nod, then turned his attention back to Hanzaki, handing him back his card. "You may proceed, Colonel Fuma," he said, gesturing at the open gate with his hand.

Pocketing his card once more, Hanzaki nodded and stepped through, making it past the iron fence. Behind him, he could hear one of the men activate a radio transceiver and speak into it.

"We have a visitor," the man said. "It's the Fuma. He fits the description."

_I guess Arashi told these guys to expect me_, Hanzaki mused. _Must be why they let me through without any fuss._

Leaving them behind, he proceeded to the wall's gatehouse, which was perhaps fifty meters away from the fence's gate. Just like the first line of defense, it was left open, with the iron portcullis raised so as to allow people to freely walk through to the palace. Two more Elite Guards were standing near it, though he noted that their stances were not as stiff as the ones he'd just met.

He wondered vaguely if there were any other security measures in place meant to stop a shinobi in case one had managed to force their way past the fence. He suspected that there must be, but he doubted he'd ever learn what they were. Eying the wall, he spotted yet more Elite Guards pacing back and forth on top of it, presumably keeping a careful eye out for any signs of trouble. The presence of so many ninjas for security would likely have reassured even the most paranoid of rulers, but he suspected that Orochimaru was not so easily satisfied.

This was, perhaps, understandable. Hanzaki did not know very much about Orochimaru's past—nobody did, really, as the man had revealed extraordinarily little about himself—but he had heard rumors that he was a wanted man in the Land of Fire, and possibly in other countries as well; although he'd never heard of any bounty hunters ever coming after Orochimaru, a little extra security probably wouldn't hurt. However, even if none of those rumors had any truth to them, by now there were certainly plenty of bloodline carriers living in this country that would have loved a chance to end the emperor's reign.

Reaching the gatehouse, one of the Guards quietly gave him a polite nod. Hanzaki was tempted to ignore the man, but he returned the gesture, then strolled under the portcullis and toward the palace. Once past the wall, he saw that there were yet _more_ Elite Guards posted at the palace entrance. Frowning, he wondered just how many of them were here. Moving up the long set of stairs to the large doorway, he passed the ninjas and entered the castle.

Stepping inside, he was greeted by warmer air and brighter light than had been present outside. Just like earlier, he couldn't resist taking a second to admire the sight before him; with numerous glass chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and beautiful works of art decorating the walls, it was clear that the designers had intended for visitors to be impressed from the moment they stepped inside. This large first area served as a nexus between the various wings of the palace, and as such there was a steady stream of people passing through; unsurprisingly, there were also a few Elite Guards standing at attention on the edges of the room.

Knowing his way around, Hanzaki moved through the room and began heading toward the east wing, where Arashi's office was located. The palace seemed far busier than it had during his first visit; large numbers of young men and women were hurriedly carrying messages, scrolls, and tall stacks of paper from one wing of the palace to another, and he spotted several military officers like himself as well. Something was certainly going on. Was some special event being arranged in the capital?

A large man, Hanzaki had some difficulty navigating through the busy castle, forced to keep an eye on those around him and move slowly to stop himself from carelessly bumping into any of the busy workers. As such, what would have been a short trip ended up taking a bit longer than he'd expected it would.

Finally arriving at Arashi's office, he quickly opened the door and stepped inside, glad to get out of the bustling hallway. Standing in the small waiting room, he saw to his dismay that there were several people in line at the secretary's desk, scrolls clutched tightly in their hands; it appeared that Arashi was rather busy at the moment. He quickly noticed another person inside the room as well: a young woman in uniform seated in one of the room's chairs. She was dressed in a grey tunic, black shorts, and a dark cap, and had long, unkempt red hair. Her arms folded across her chest, she had a scowl on her face; glancing at him, her expression grew even darker. Hanzaki immediately recognized her as being one of Orochimaru's Sound Five, though he couldn't recall her name.

Taking his place at the end of the line, he waited patiently for those ahead of him to speak with the secretary and leave their scrolls with her. Once it was finally his turn, he quickly approached the woman's desk. He couldn't help but notice that she was middle-aged and rather plain; he would have expected that Arashi would have arranged to keep a younger, prettier woman working for him.

"Hello. I have an appointment with, ah, General Fuma," Hanzaki said to her. He thought that Arashi held the rank of general, but he couldn't quite remember.

"And what's your name?" she asked without blinking, opening a small planner in front of her. It seemed he'd remembered correctly, then.

"Hanzaki Fuma," he answered. Her hand paused for a fraction of a second when he mentioned his name, but she quickly resumed flipping through the planner. Finding the right page, she began to move her finger across it.

"Ah, yes, Colonel Fuma," she said a moment later. "General Fuma has been expecting you. Go right on in."

The words "thank you" had begun to form in Hanzaki's mouth when the girl seated behind him suddenly exploded.

"What the hell?!" she screamed. "I've been sitting here almost an hour, why does he get to go straight in?!"

"Tayuya!" said the secretary sternly. "That's no way for a young lady to speak!"

"Screw you!" the girl replied angrily.

Alarmed, Hanzaki quickly headed for Arashi's door, unwilling to get caught in the crossfire. Tayuya began yelling something incomprehensible as he closed the door behind him, muffling the noise. Inside Arashi's office, the intelligence head of the Elite Guard looked up from his desk and gazed at him.

"Hanzaki," he murmured. "You finally arrived." He looked virtually exactly the same as Hanzaki remembered him; his light blue hair framed his fair face, nearly reaching his shoulders, and his features were still very much like that of a boy's, making him look even younger than he really was. However, he didn't exert an aura of youthful energy. His eyes were cold and distant, and his lips were pressed tightly in a thin line.

"Yes," he replied with a nod. Noticing that Arashi was also dressed in uniform, he hesitantly raised his hand to his brow in salute, uncertain as to whether or not his cousin insisted on that sort of thing.

"That is not necessary," Arashi said, his face remaining an expressionless mask. "We exist in separate chains of command. I have no authority over you and you need not salute me."

"Oh," said Hanzaki, lowering the hand back down to his side. "Okay then."

"In any event, the military no longer salutes that way. But I did not summon you here to teach you proper protocol. Please, have a seat." He gestured towards the large vacant chair in front of his desk. Hanzaki gratefully sat down in the cushioned seat, and glanced around the office; it had been quite a while since he had last been here. It was rather simple, with almost no decorations put up. Medals took up one section of the wall, and several pictures of Arashi shaking hands with important people were also put up. A long, polished katana also took up the space behind his desk. On the desk itself was a slab of metal with his name engraved into it along with various other displays.

The two Fumas stared at each other for a moment before Hanzaki spoke up.

"So, cousin, why _did_ you summon me here?" he asked.

Arashi continued to stare at him for a second longer before answering. "The nation is mobilizing for war," he said simply.

Hanzaki frowned slightly. So he was being called to service, then. "I see," he replied. "And I'll be sent to the front?"

"Possibly," Arashi said. The elder Fuma raised a brow slightly.

"…What exactly do you mean by that?"

Again, Arashi sat silently for a second before replying. "There are two significant military operations that will be commencing soon," he answered. "While you've made your thoughts on the emperor and the Hidden Sound Village exceedingly clear, I wanted to extend to you the courtesy of allowing you to choose which operation you'd prefer to participate in."

"What do my thoughts about the Sound Village have to do with anything?" Hanzaki asked, puzzled.

Arashi studied him for a long moment before continuing. "The information I'm about to entrust you with pertains to matters of state security and is highly classified," he said slowly, staring Hanzaki in the eye. "I hope that I needn't tell you the consequences of betraying this trust."

Hanzaki's brow rose again, a little higher this time. "Of course not," replied. His curiosity piqued, he had to resist the urge to lean forward in his seat.

Arashi nodded, then pulled open one of his desk's drawers and extracted a scroll. Rolling it open on his desk, Hanzaki could see that it was a simple map of the region. However, Arashi placed a single finger on it, and the map quickly zoomed in on the Empire of Sound and the area surrounding its borders; Hanzaki blinked in surprise but said nothing.

"Our emperor has decided that it is time we repaid the Land of Hot Springs for their actions in the last war, and that the Empire take back what was stolen from it," Arashi told him. As he spoke, the Land of Hot Springs—the country on the Empire's eastern border—suddenly began to glow red, while the Empire itself began to glow a dark purple. "This is Operation Daybreak. Our forces will launch a full scale invasion, sweep their defenses aside, and storm their capital. If they have not capitulated by the time we accomplish this, we will continue to crush their strongholds until no resistance to our rule remains."

"That easy, huh?" Hanzaki muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing. Continue."

"…Right. After our victory is secured, we will, at minimum, retake the land they stole from us in the last war and establish a puppet regime. If the emperor sees fit, we may simply annex the entire country as part of the Empire." At this, the entire Land of Hot Springs ceased to pulse red, and turned to glow in the dark purple of the Empire.

"I see," Hanzaki murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly. "This operation is rather…ambitious." He managed to restrain himself from elaborating any further on his opinion of this plan.

This was _exactly_ the sort of thing the previous daimyo had tried to do when he dragged their country into war. Desiring power and wealth, the old fool had declared war on the Land of Gold and Silver, and ordered the Rice Fields Country Army to invade. Hanzaki had been on the front lines of that invasion; despite the pointlessness of the conflict, his comrades had all fought bravely and determinedly. However, as Rice Fields Country's treasury dried up, the Land of Gold and Silver's boundless wealth permitted them to continue conscripting new soldiers and continue hiring more mercenaries. Slowly but surely, the invaders were pushed back into their own country, and sensing weakness, the Land of Hot Springs declared war on the Land of Rice Fields and launched an invasion of its own. It hadn't taken long for Rice Fields Country's military to collapse and the government to surrender.

Hanzaki knew that Orochimaru was cold-hearted and power-hungry, but if nothing else, he had expected him to be smarter than this. Evidently, he was not.

A small grin tugged at Arashi's lips: his first display of emotion so far. "Your skepticism is understandable," he said. "Rest assured, the emperor is a far more cunning strategist than the old fool who ruled this country before." Leaning back in his seat, he took his finger off the map, but it continued to glow softly.

"Yeah? How do you figure?" He knew that this display of impudence was dangerous. In the past, Arashi had beaten members of their clan who had expressed doubts about Orochimaru's greatness; by now, Hanzaki was sure that Arashi would have no problem with simply killing him. However, hearing this operation explained to him had disheartened Hanzaki in a way that words could hardly explain. By all appearances, his country was about to be led to disaster yet again by an idiotic ruler, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.

"For starters, we've made efforts to gather as much information about our neighbors as possible," the younger Fuma explained; he still seemed more amused than angry. "Numerous Sound Village shinobi have been operating deep undercover in the Land of Hot Springs for months now. We've amassed an appreciable amount of intelligence regarding their defenses and military strength."

Hanzaki let out a small grunt at this. As much as he despised the Sound Village, and anyone who served it, he couldn't deny that it was a significant asset to their country, and one that they had not possessed the last time around. Proper information gathering could save hundreds, if not thousands, of Imperial lives and very well make the difference between victory and defeat.

"Of course, the Sound Village is not the only new factor we have in our favor," Arashi continued. "While you've been away, there have been a number of significant developments that have bolstered our military strength."

"Such as?"

"Beasts of war, for one. Would you happen to be familiar with the growing trend of modern militaries breeding and training large animals to carry out special roles?"

It took Hanzaki a moment to realize what he was referring to. "A little," he replied slowly. "I remember something about the Great Nations training men to fly around on giant eagles. Reconnaissance or something." He'd never seen these eagles for himself, only heard mentions of their use; supposedly, they had been used somewhat extensively when the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning had gone to war a decade ago. The idea had always struck him as insanity.

"Yes, nin-birds," Arashi said with a nod. "These creatures are…considerably expensive to maintain, but they have proven time and again that they are well worth the cost. As I'm sure you're well-aware, ninjas and scouts have traditionally been responsible for conducting reconnaissance on enemy troop movements, but nin-bird riders demonstrated that they can locate a marching enemy army far more swiftly, from a greater distance away, and come up with more accurate assessments regarding their numbers."

"Well that's, er, nice, I suppose," Hanzaki said. He didn't fail to notice Arashi's momentary hesitation when he mentioned their cost; he wondered just how expensive these animals were.

"Recon is not all they're good for, however," Arashi went on, preventing him from dwelling on it. "Experiments have been made to utilize these nin-birds to carry powerful explosives, so that they may drop them on marching armies or other targets marked for destruction. For example, cities, fortresses, and the like. So far, the results have been very promising."

Hanzaki raised his eyebrows at this. "That…would definitely be damn useful," he murmured, struggling to keep from sounding impressed. If it actually worked as well as Arashi was implying it did, the ability to drop bombs on armies and forts could be devastating. Arashi grinned again.

"In addition, we have also been exploring the possibility of using nin-birds to transport soldiers—ninjas and scouts, mainly—behind enemy lines and dropping them there to carry out special missions. Using this method, these agents can be delivered to their targets far more quickly, increasing their chances of success."

Hanzaki's expression changed dramatically. "You're flying people up into the air and…_dropping them_?"

"No, we do not simply drop people out of the sky," Arashi replied with an annoyed tone, making a face and waving his hand dismissively. "We equip them with parachutes." Seeing Hanzaki's blank expression, he sighed. "It is like a backpack containing a ship's sail. The user deploys the sail, dramatically slowing his descent. It allows him to land on the ground harmlessly."

"Sounds like suicide to me," Hanzaki muttered, shaking his head.

"Believe whatever you like, cousin," said Arashi sharply, his eyes narrowing slightly. "In the end, you'll see that your doubts are unfounded. All of them." It seemed that his patience had begun to wear thin.

"Er, yes, of course," he replied quickly, keeping his tone respectful. He knew that it wouldn't pay to push Arashi any further. "So, we have spies and giant eagles. Sounds good so far." Arashi stared at him a moment longer, allowing himself to relax.

"Indeed," he eventually replied, his voice returning to its toneless inflection from earlier. "In addition to birds, however, we have snakes."

"…_Giant_ snakes?" asked Hanzaki. Unlike birds, this was not something he'd ever heard of.

"Yes," Arashi confirmed with a nod. "Massive. They are large enough to swallow entire groups of men at once, and are powerful enough to crush soldiers and flatten walls. They are easily capable of smashing through enemy lines and laying waste to their defenses. Their deployment should allow our invasion force to advance far more quickly than our enemies would expect."

"They sound formidable," Hanzaki said politely. However, he couldn't help but suspect they'd be less effective than Arashi was convinced they would be. At the sight of an enormous snake approaching, the enemy army would doubtlessly concentrate all their fire on it, and any shinobi in their ranks would almost certainly try throwing some powerful jutsus at it to stop it. If the snakes tried a direct charge like Arashi was suggesting, he doubted that they'd live long enough to cause too much damage.

The fact that the younger Fuma had never set foot on a battlefield undoubtedly played some role in his overconfidence; he was prone to forget that the enemy would fight back, not just stand there and take it.

"We have the emperor to thank for them," Arashi went on, a small hint of pride in his voice. "It was his contract with the snakes that allowed us to obtain these giant specimens and begin breeding them."

"That was, uh, very nice of the snakes, I suppose," said Hanzaki, unsure how to respond. Though he knew the basics of the Summoning Jutsu, he had no idea how animal summons worked; supposedly it involved signing a special scroll, and only one scroll existed for each species of animal. As such, the ninjas who could summon creatures to fight for them were few and far between. "Is that everything you all have been working on, then? Spy networks and birds and snakes?"

"Not quite everything," Arashi replied. He paused for a few seconds before continuing. "I wonder, did you hear of the events in the Land of Snow?"

"Not much," he said after a moment, his brow furrowed in concentration. "Saw it in the newspapers once or twice. Something about a civil war. Why?" Arashi frowned slightly at this.

"I was hoping that you would have taken a greater interest in the current affairs of your country," he said. "But no matter. Yes, there had been a civil war. Suffice it to say that the Land of Snow's current daimyo does not enjoy the same level of popularity our own emperor does; political factions opposed to him eventually rose up in revolt. It seems that he had some difficulty dealing with the problem, however. Indeed, the forces loyal to him appeared to be on the verge of collapse before Lord Orochimaru decided to lend him a hand."

"And why'd he go and do a thing like that?" Now that he thought about it, Hanzaki could vaguely recall radio reports mentioning something about an expeditionary force over a year ago; he had paid them little attention due to a complete lack of interest. He supposed that it must have had to do with this Snow Country incident.

"I suppose the reasons for this decision wouldn't be immediately apparent, would they? The Land of Snow is not a particularly popular place. It's frozen and buried in snow all year round, and its location is remote." He paused briefly, seemingly for dramatic effect; Hanzaki wished he would just get to the point. "However, it is home to possibly the most brilliant scientists and engineers in the world. They are responsible for numerous impressive leaps in technological advancement: advanced metalworking techniques, engines capable of allowing carriages to move under their own power, ships that can sail through the air, and, of course, experimental weapons and armor." He fell silent again, probably to let his words sink in; however, Hanzaki's reaction was not one of awe.

"Sounds like some sort of fantasy land," he replied, skeptical. "You're serious this stuff is real?"

"Absolutely," he affirmed. "Lord Orochimaru's intelligence network spreads quite far. When he learned of the technological wonders in the Land of Snow, and of the dire predicament Lord Kazahana was in, he quickly decided to take advantage of the situation. Extending a hand of friendship to Kazahana, he then deployed several regiments of Imperial troops to aid him in his civil war. This alliance ultimately succeeded in crushing the rebels."

"Interesting," Hanzaki murmured. So, now the daimyo of this land of wondrous technology was deeply indebted to Orochimaru. Very interesting indeed. Though he was hesitant to admit it to himself, he was liking what he was hearing quite a lot; the Empire did not merely stand a chance at defeating the Land of Hot Springs, it was beginning to look like the odds were heavily in their favor. "And so when is this operation going to begin?"

"One week from today."

"Wh-Wha…? One week?" Hanzaki spluttered, shocked. "Already?" The notion of cobbling together the regiments necessary to carry out an invasion of this scale in a single week was absurd.

"Please, calm yourself," Arashi said, an annoyed look on his face again. "Command has been moving men and supplies to the border in preparation for this operation for weeks now. They need only for the emperor to give the order to invade. He decided earlier on the date one week from today, and so it shall be."

"Well, if things have been prepared…" Relaxing, Hanzaki allowed himself to settle comfortably into his seat once more. Giving Arashi's map another look, he noticed that the Land of Gold and Silver was not glowing any particular color. "What about them?" he asked, leaning forward to tap the country with his finger; the map did not react to his touch. "Will the other operation be an invasion of Gold and Silver Country?"

"No," replied Arashi, slightly surprising Hanzaki. "The second operation is something else entirely. However, rest assured that the emperor has not forgotten that we have a score to settle with them as well. Once Daybreak has been completed, we will prepare to launch an invasion of Gold and Silver Country. They will either be occupied or annexed as well. The emperor will take those matters into consideration when the time is right."

"Hm," Hanzaki grunted, leaning back in his seat. "What _is_ the other operation, then?"

Arashi placed his finger back on the map on his desk. At his touch, it stopped glowing, and it zoomed out to display the entire region once again. "This is Operation Leviathan." In the Land of Fire, the location of the Hidden Leaf Village was suddenly highlighted by a red '_X_'. As Hanzaki observed, thick red arrows suddenly sprouted from the Empire of Sound and the Land of Wind to converge on Leaf. He blinked in confusion, not sure what exactly he was looking at. "The nature of this mission is…considerably different from Daybreak's."

"And, ah, what precisely is going on here?"

"The annihilation of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"…What?" Hanzaki was certain he must have misheard.

"One month from now, the Elite Guard, led by Lord Orochimaru himself, will be launching an attack on the Leaf Village," Arashi explained. "As you can see on the map, the Hidden Sand Village will be participating in this attack as well."

Hanzaki could only gape in disbelief, looking from Arashi to the map and back again. "The…Leaf Village? Why the _hell_ would we be attacking them for?" The grudging respect for Orochimaru that had been slowly building up vanished in an instant.

Picking a fight—a winnable fight—with the Land of Hot Springs was reasonable enough: the two nations had a long history of violence and enmity, and it was likely inevitable that the two would have gone to war again in the future with or without Orochimaru. But betraying their alliance with the Land of Fire—the most powerful country in the region—and trying to destroy Konoha? Was Orochimaru totally insane?

"For the glory of the Empire," Arashi said simply. "As long as the Leaf Village stands and the Land of Fire remains a dominant power, we will never succeed in rising to our full potential. They must be swept away if our emperor's dream is to be realized."

This sounded like nothing but pure madness, but Hanzaki knew better than to argue. He exhaled loudly through his nose. "Please, explain."

"The Hidden Leaf Village is far from the beacon of peace and enlightenment it claims to be. Its ninjas are not courageous peacekeepers or warriors of justice. It is, in fact, a den of corruption, populated by mercenaries willing to do anything to earn a little money. It is controlled entirely by an alliance of the village's most powerful clans—all of whom are constantly backstabbing each other in an endless struggle to achieve dominance. There is nothing these people are unwilling to do in order to increase their wealth and power, and they desire nothing less than absolute control over everything around them. By spreading their spheres of influence, their corruption gradually wormed its way into the Land of Fire's royal court, effectively granting the village control of the entire country. Thus, the Land of Fire is unceasing in its efforts to make sure that all its neighbors are weak and completely dependent upon its protection."

Apparently, the irony of a tale about greedy ninjas managing to take control of their nation's government was lost upon Arashi. Hanzaki, however, held his tongue and asked something else. "And how exactly are you so sure they'll try and keep us weak? Is this what the spy network is telling you?"

"No," said Arashi, shaking his head. "Lord Orochimaru has some…personal experience with the depths of the Hidden Leaf Village's depravity."

"How so?"

"There are…some things that our emperor has not revealed to the public."

"Like what, exactly?" asked Hanzaki, growing slightly impatient. _Like the fact that he's a complete nutcase?_

"Like his origins," Arashi explained solemnly. "His place of birth. His childhood. Lord Orochimaru was born and raised in the Hidden Leaf Village. While there…he was badly mistreated. The clans of the village scorned and abused him throughout his childhood. However, as he grew older, and his genius became evident, they came to fear him." His demeanor had grown very somber; his voice had lowered in volume, and his eyes expressed sadness. "During the Second Great War, his courageous actions saved the lives of countless Fire Country soldiers and Leaf Village ninjas—he was very likely instrumental in the Land of Fire's eventual victory. When the Third Great War arose, he again served his country with honor and distinction. For his accomplishments, many thought that he was sure to be named the next Hokage. However, the clans controlling the village ensured that this did not happen. Instead, the position was handed to the man known as the Yellow Flash—someone young and impressionable, who the clans would be able to easily control." As he continued, an angry look flashed across his eyes. "Shortly after this, the clans decided that Lord Orochimaru presented a dangerous threat to their interests. They assembled a team of their best shinobi, and ambushed him in an assassination attempt. Needless to say, they were no match for Lord Orochimaru, and he killed them all. However, the clans were able to claim that he had been the one who instigated the battle, and thus framed him for murder. Faced with execution, Lord Orochimaru had no choice but to flee his home." Finishing, Arashi glowered down at the map on his desk.

"…Oh," muttered Hanzaki. So those rumors about him being wanted were true, then. "I suppose I can see why he's not fond of the place." It didn't change the fact that this operation to destroy Konoha was insane, but at least Orochimaru had a reason for wanting it. He felt like sighing when he realized what was happening. "So…he's using us to get his revenge. That's what all this is."

"_No_!" thundered Arashi angrily, slamming his fist down on the desk; Hanzaki realized that he'd failed to mind himself properly. The younger Fuma fumed for a second, but calmed himself and settled back into his seat. "No," he repeated in a quieter tone. "Revenge is not Lord Orochimaru's primary motivation. He has made it clear that this is his home now; his highest goal is to lift us to greatness. Every single action he has taken was done for the good of our country. This is no different."

"Okay," agreed Hanzaki quickly. He had no idea how much of this story he believed, but all that mattered was that Arashi believed it, and questioning it would do nothing but provoke his wrath. "So, ah…" he continued uncomfortably. "We'll have the Land of Wind's support in this war, then?" he asked hopefully.

"Yes, of course," said Arashi. "The emperor knows that we cannot hope to topple the Land of Fire all on our own—what we have in bravery and technological innovation, they more than make up for with wealth and sheer numbers. For this reason, he sought the aid of the other Great Nations. While the Land of Wind's support is assured, he is optimistic that Earth Country and Water Country will join our entente as well. After all, they both have many grievances against the Land of Fire."

"That would certainly be good," Hanzaki murmured, feeling a sense of relief wash over him. Orochimaru was clearly prepared to throw their country off the abyss, but having the support of three Great Nations meant his crazy dream might actually be attainable. He was highly doubtful that the mighty Hidden Leaf Village would fall so easily, even with a powerful ninja like Orochimaru participating in the attack, but the aid of three other hidden villages would certainly tilt the odds in their favor.

He wondered briefly why Wind Country had agreed to join Orochimaru in this endeavor; he had heard a few stories here and there that the Wind Lord was some sort of pacifist, and had downsized his nation's military. However, he recalled the adage about looking a gift horse in the mouth, and decided not to dwell on it. "So, Elite Guards and Sand ninjas will be attacking the Leaf Village," he said. "What then?"

"There is the possibility that the Stone Village and the Mist Village will contribute ninjas to this attack as well," Arashi said. "But, once the Leaf Village is no more, the war will commence in earnest. There is a strong possibility that the Land of Fire will capitulate quickly, due to the devastating loss of shinobi and without the ninja clans forcing the daimyo to continue fighting. However, we must be prepared for a long conflict. For this reason, the Imperial Army will be launching an invasion of the Land of Fire on the same day that the Leaf Village is destroyed. By seizing control of their northern provinces, the Empire itself will be saved from immediate retaliation, and further pressure will be put on Fire Country's leadership to simply surrender."

"I see," grunted Hanzaki. He sat silently for a moment, a different kind of worry beginning to gnaw at him. "Have you all been keeping a tight lid on this?" he asked. "These operations all sound awfully big. How can you be sure these other countries don't have spies of their own in here, letting them know they're about to be attacked?"

"Counter-intelligence is my entire _job_," Arashi said, eyes narrowing slightly. "For years I've been ensuring that no spies could manage to slip themselves into places where they could learn anything valuable, and ensuring that people who _are_ in those places can continue to be trusted. Word of these operations will not reach our enemies. They'll never know what hit them." It seemed as if this was a matter of personal pride for him.

"All right, all right," Hanzaki said. Sensing that he'd struck a nerve, he decided to move the conversation back to the original subject. "So, essentially, my choices are to participate in the invasion of Hot Springs Country or the invasion of Fire Country. Is that it?"

"You may also choose to participate in the attack on the Leaf Village," Arashi told him. "The fact that you're an experienced shinobi would make you a valuable asset."

"Fighting alongside the Elite Guard and Orochimaru?" Hanzaki asked. It took all his effort to maintain a neutral tone of voice and keep from making a face. "No thanks."

"I suspected you might say that," Arashi said. "A pity, but it is your decision."

Staring down at the map, Hanzaki sat quietly for nearly a minute. Though it had only taken him a few moments to decide his preference, this lull in the conversation allowed him his first chance to begin trying to digest everything Arashi had just told him. His thoughts occupied by a great deal of different hopes and fears, he likely would have been able to sit in that chair for hours; however, he snapped himself out of it and forced himself to give Arashi an answer. There'd be time for reflection later. "Send me to Hot Springs Country," he said finally.

"You are positive?"

"Yes," he replied, nodding his head. Hanzaki had no particular urge to fight the Land of Fire; however, having fought against Hot Springs Country in the last war, he could at least look forward to exacting some form of payback.

"Very well…" Arashi pulled out a black notebook and flipped it open, scribbling something inside of it. After a second, he paused to look up and stare Hanzaki in the eyes. "You will make absolutely no mention of this conversation, or these operations, to anybody. Not your subordinates, not your superior officer, nobody. Am I understood?"

"Sure…?" said Hanzaki, slightly confused. Hadn't he mentioned that at the start of the meeting?

"I'm serious," Arashi said, narrowing his eyes. "_No one_."

"Okay, okay, I get it," he replied. "Nobody." Arashi stared at him for another few seconds, then nodded to himself and resumed scribbling in his notebook.

"That is all I needed to know, Hanzaki," he said. "You may leave now. Prepare to ship out, you'll be commanding from the front lines with your men. Your train leaves tomorrow morning. Speak with my secretary, she will have your ticket and some additional information for you."

"C-_Commanding_?" Hanzaki suddenly blurted out. "You're putting me in charge of other soldiers?" His face drained of color, alarmed by the mere thought. In the past war, he'd served as a simple shinobi, conducting reconnaissance and sabotage, in addition to serving special offensive roles. He had absolutely no experience with commanding men; it was something he had never done.

"You are an officer," Arashi replied, annoyance in his voice. "What exactly were you expecting?"

"Some kind of advisory role, or something!" he answered, incredulous. "You seriously expect me to know how to command others in a battle? I've never done anything like that!"

"You have prior experience with war," Arashi said. "You'll make as good a commander as any of the others."

"The other officers needed to go attend military academies before they were given command positions!" Hanzaki retorted. "They'll know what they're doing! _I have no experience with this_!"

"The Imperial Army is in need of commanders," Arashi answered, his eyes narrowing once more and his tone turning dangerous. "And no member of our clan will serve as a lowly infantryman or as an _advisor_. You will serve as a regimental commander, you will do so proudly, and I expect that your actions will further the glory of the Fuma Clan. _Do I make myself clear_?"

Hanzaki was tempted to argue in spite of Arashi's anger; this was not merely about him, this was something that would affect everyone placed under his command. However, seeing the look in his eyes, he faltered. "…Yes, cousin," he said meekly.

As absurd as the notion was, he was actually going to be expected to issue commands to others now; the more it sunk in, the more his heart fell. Among the officers who had actually been educated, he'd surely stand out as a complete buffoon.

"Good," said Arashi. He began scribbling in his notebook anew, then paused and glanced back up at Hanzaki. "We are done here. You may go."

"Right," said Hanzaki. Sighing quietly, he stood up and headed for the door. Placing a hand on the doorknob, he turned to give Arashi another look, unwilling to leave without giving him at least some sort of farewell. "I…guess I'll see you later."

Arashi glanced up at him, brow raised. "Yes, I expect you will," he said, then returned his attention to his notebook.

Hanzaki nodded, then opened the door and exited the office. Approaching the secretary's desk once again, his mind raced with thoughts about all the information he'd just learned, and he felt a strange sense of fatigue. It seemed that now, whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to have faith in Orochimaru and trust that that monster knew what he was doing. If he didn't…

Hanzaki grimaced. _Then disaster's going to land on this country all over again, and it's going to land hard._

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**Quote of the Day:**

"My parents keep asking how school was. It's like saying, 'How was that drive-by shooting?' You don't care how it was, you're lucky to get out alive."

- Unknown


	26. The Greatest Element

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 26: The Greatest Element_

Naruto tiredly walked through the meadow outside of the Leaf Village, heading for the stream where he was to train with Guy. Though he had already completely recovered from the exhausting training from the day before, his feet still shuffled along at a slow pace from the burden of the heavy leg weights he had strapped around his ankles. As he finally saw the stream come into view, he also saw that Guy was already waiting for him.

"Where were you?" asked the Jonin impatiently, arms crossed.

"I got up as early as I could," Naruto said, yawning. It was the truth. As much as he needed to train, he certainly wasn't going to be getting up at the crack of dawn just to get to the stream before Guy. Actually, knowing him, the Jonin might have been waiting there since midnight.

"You wake up far too late, then," scolded Guy. "Your tardiness is intolerable! As punishment, you will have to run fifty laps around the village."

"Sure, whatever," Naruto grumbled. He'd just run them sometime later, if at all. "Can we start training now? I need to get this water walking thing done."

"No!" Guy thundered abruptly, surprising him. "You must run the laps immediately. I will not be training you until you complete them!"

"A-Are you kidding me?" spluttered Naruto. "You're making me run fifty laps around the entire village just because I don't wake up as early as a nutjob like you? I don't have time for this kind of crap, I need to be training!"

"You're lucky that I'm only making you do fifty!" proclaimed Guy. "I should be making you do five hundred! Now hurry up and get started!"

"B-But—"

"Now!" his sensei ordered again. "The sooner you get the laps done, the sooner you can start training!"

Muttering darkly, Naruto knelt down and reached for his ankles to take off his leg weights. He had barely walked out of the village with them, there was no way he could run laps with them holding him back.

"You have to leave the weights _on_," commanded Guy. "You can't just take them off to make things easy for yourself, that's not the right spirit!"

"Forget having the right spirit!" yelled Naruto, enraged. "I barely made it out of the village with these things on, there's no way I can run fifty whole laps!"

"If you keep whining about everything like this, I won't teach you a single taijutsu move," said Guy threateningly. "I'll just tell Kakashi to teach his own novice abilities to you. How will you beat Sasuke then?"

Naruto grimaced at that. How _would _he beat Sasuke? The answer was grim yet simple: he couldn't, not if Guy didn't teach him some sort of super move. He was being held hostage by his need to win the match, and he knew it. However, he didn't care. If he got to beat Sasuke, any ridiculous training from Might Guy would be worth it.

"Fine," he muttered angrily. "Fine. We'll do it your way."

He reluctantly climbed back to his feet as Guy looked on at him and began to jog back the way he had come. Each pounding step sent a tremor up his legs, and seemingly every muscle in his body screamed in protest at the abuse. Despite the torture he was inflicting on himself, he continued to pick up speed, heading back towards the village. He had a bad feeling that this was going to take a very long time.

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A loud and incessant knocking at the door interrupted Sasuke's breakfast. Grumbling, he got up from the small dining table he was sitting at and went to see who it was. If it turned out to be another girl from that annoying unofficial fan club he had somehow attained, he'd be tempted to push her down the nearest stairs. The visitor knocked again, this time pounding the door with considerably more force. Sasuke frowned.

"Keep your shirt on!" he shouted to whoever it was. It certainly didn't sound like another annoying girl; to the contrary, it sounded like it must be an adult. He unlocked the door and yanked it open, annoyed, only to have his eyes widen in shock at who it was. "Kurenai-sensei?"

The Jonin stood outside, an irritated expression on her face and arms folded across her chest. She looked as if she were tempted to snap at him, but she collected herself and assumed a more neutral expression. "Sasuke," she said with a nod. "How are you feeling?"

"Er, well enough, I suppose," he answered, unconsciously reaching up to rub his neck.

"…Is it bothering you?" she asked, a hint of concern in her eyes.

"A little," he said. "But it's nothing I can't deal with. What do you need?"

"I came to see how you were doing," she said. "I'm glad that you're okay. Are you feeling well enough to train?"

"Sure, I guess. Why?"

"You're going to need to start training for the final rounds," Kurenai told him. "As soon as possible. You don't have the luxury of just loafing around until they're here. The competition is going to be tough."

"I know that," replied Sasuke. Was this all it was? She only came here to remind him to train? Something so trivial could have waited until after breakfast! "I don't even know who I'm fighting…" he muttered. He had been whisked away from the preliminary arena without getting to see anybody else's match, and had no idea who had been pitted against him for the finals.

"You're fighting Naruto Uzumaki," said Kurenai; she spoke as if the name brought bad memories. "You're going to need to prepare for the battle." Sasuke blinked in surprise, then burst out laughing.

"Are you kidding me?" he gasped between laughs, doubled over as he leaned against the doorframe for support. "You're making a huge deal over a failure like him? I'll kill him!" Kurenai's face began to turn red.

"_Do you have any idea who he fought_?" she asked in a tone that sent chills down his spine. His laughter quickly died away and he stood up straight. This was very unlike her; she was usually very mellow. What had caused her change in behavior?

"Uh, no…" he answered. "Probably some girl, I guess. That's the only way someone at his skill level could have made it past the preliminaries." Kurenai's eyes flashed at that comment, but she ignored it and went straight to the point.

"He fought Shino, Sasuke. _Shino_."

"Eh… What?" asked Sasuke, confused. He must have misunderstood her. "I thought you said Naruto won."

"He did," insisted Kurenai angrily. "He fought Shino, and won."

"But… You have to be kidding. There's no way in hell he could have…" Sasuke's voice faltered. Shino was unbeatable. He had proved as much in the Forest of Death. Him losing to someone like Naruto was beyond comprehension; there was simply no way that was possible. Kurenai must have been playing some sort of joke on him. "All right, very funny, sensei," he said, recovering. "Who am I really supposed to fight?"

"Goddammit, Sasuke!" shouted Kurenai, furious. "You're fighting Naruto! He beat Shino! He beat the crap out of him so bad, they still haven't let him out of the hospital! And if you don't start taking this kid seriously and put in some training, he'll beat you, too!"

Sasuke stood in shock, looking up at her disbelievingly. Out of everyone competing in the entire Chunin Exam, Shino was perhaps the second most likely to pass and one of the most deserving of the promotion in rank. How could he have lost in the preliminaries?

_He's not invincible_, Sasuke mused. _I could have taken him out no problem. But how could an idiot like Naruto…?_

"But…how?" he managed to ask, genuinely confused. "It must have been a fluke! There's no way that could have been a fair fight!"

"I watched it myself, Sasuke," Kurenai stated icily. "You weren't there to see what happened. I don't know how or where, but Naruto learned some powerful taijutsu techniques and the Shadow Clone Jutsu. _That's a Jonin-level technique_. He's not the same kid you remember from the Academy anymore!" The Genin began to get the idea that Kurenai was getting angry mostly because of Shino's defeat. If Sasuke had been assigned to fight anyone else but Naruto, Kurenai probably wouldn't have come to disturb him. What now? Did she want him to avenge his teammate or something?

"All right, so Naruto's got some new tricks up his sleeve… I'll watch out for those. Thanks for stopping by." Somewhat alarmed by his sensei's anger, he was eager to end their conversation and return to his breakfast. He made as if to close the door, but Kurenai slammed her hand on it, stopping him.

"We have to start training. _Now_."

Sasuke sighed. "Come on, you can't be serious… I can take him no problem. You don't know him like I do. It's like he has some sort of complex or something: he's never beaten me before, no matter what he tried. You don't need to be so freaked out over this."

"If you keep up with that attitude, you won't be any match for him. What do you think he's doing right now? Just messing around? Of course not! He's going to be training and learning even more powerful moves!"

"Well… If he's such a threat, what do you plan on teaching me?"

She stood silently for a moment, scrutinizing him. "Your Sharingan has awoken by now, right?" she suddenly asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"It'll definitely help with the techniques I'll be teaching you, that's why," she said. Looking deep in thought, a grin slowly began to form at the edges of her mouth, and gradually grew wider. "If we do this right, you'll be untouchable in your match against him, no matter what he learns. He won't stand a chance."

"And what 'techniques' are you planning on teaching me?" Sasuke asked warily, brow raised. A strange glint appeared in Kurenai's eyes, and her grin grew wider still.

"Genjutsu."

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Neji and Tenten walked side by side to the training grounds they frequented, which lay in a secluded location just outside of the village. Though they usually walked in silence with very little conversation, Neji was especially quiet today. His normally passive facial features were contorted into an unrelenting scowl, as if he were angry about something. There were, in fact, several things bothering him at the moment, though Tenten could only guess at what they were. She hesitantly broke the silence and spoke.

"So… You recovered fine?" she asked.

"That's what the doctors said," Neji replied tersely, but failed to elaborate.

"That's good," said Tenten uncomfortably. "I recovered quickly, too. I barely lasted two minutes against that Sound ninja… But yeah, I'm fine." Neji didn't show any sign that he had heard her, and Tenten sighed. She gathered her courage and asked the question that she suspected was causing him the most anguish. "How do you think your match against your cousin will go?" Neji's scowl grew fiercer, his lip curling in anger at the mention of his kin.

"I will humiliate her," he said quietly, his tone uncharacteristically dark. "I'll make her regret the day she decided to compete in the Chunin Exam…"

"You weren't there to see her match," Tenten said slowly.

"So what?" snapped Neji.

"She's strong, maybe a lot stronger than you remember her being," she told him. "She might've even been able to beat me, if she managed to get in close." She half expected Neji to tell her that she wasn't good enough to beat Hinata in the first place, but no insult passed his lips. All he did was drop his scowl and frown, narrowing his eyes.

"The full extent of her powers is pathetic," he finally went on. "I've seen her train… I will not lose to someone like her." He knew that he wouldn't lose. He _couldn't _lose. The notion that she would even stand a chance was, frankly, preposterous. Fate had long ago made it clear that she was never going to surpass him.

Tenten gazed at him and fell silent. The two teammates continued walking somberly to train.

88888888

Hinata and Hanabi, walking side by side, made their way towards the hot springs. It was close enough to noon to make no difference, and Jiraiya hadn't told them to show up at any specific time.

"Remember what I told you," Hinata said to her sister as they walked.

"Yes, I remember," she grumbled unhappily. "I can't yell at Jiraiya no matter what he says…or does."

"Right," said Hinata approvingly, nodding her head. "Just stay courteous, and he might teach you something new."

Hanabi's desire to learn powerful and interesting new jutsus was what would most likely keep her polite to the Sannin. Thanks to a little extra tutoring from Hinata after they had returned to the Hyuga Estate, she had finally perfected the water walking technique (by running from one end of a filled bathtub to the other). After today, as long as Jiraiya did teach Hinata a new technique, they could practice it together once they returned home.

They soon arrived at the hot springs, and immediately saw Jiraiya. Surprisingly, he wasn't trying to peek at naked women or anything else that could have gotten him kicked out; instead, he sat on the ground, his back against the wall of the female bathhouse, and was furiously scribbling inside of a small black book. A large grin was plastered on his face, and his cheeks were slightly red. If Hinata had to guess, she'd have said it looked like he had just finished his perverted "research" and was now recording it for future reference.

Hanabi looked at him and narrowed her eyes, clearly drawing the same conclusion as Hinata. Fortunately, she kept her mouth shut as she had promised.

Jiraiya was engrossed in his notebook, not noticing the two girls walking straight towards him. He only looked up when their shadows blocked the sunlight he needed to write, and he looked surprised to see them. For a moment, Hinata thought he might have forgotten their arrangement, but those fears were quickly dashed.

"So, you've finally arrived," he said, putting away his notebook and pencil. He stood up and dusted his hands off. "I would have expected you to be here earlier."

"You said to be here at noon," Hinata reminded him.

"I know, it's just that I figured you would try to get here before me or something," Jiraiya stated, looking down at them. "Your clan is always trying to prove itself as superior. It's like a rule or something for you Hyugas. Elitists, the whole lot of you."

Hanabi's hands clenched into fists and she looked up at him in anger, but she continued to maintain her silence. Hinata blew out a small sigh of relief and continued to stare up at the Sannin. He was looking down at Hanabi expectantly, waiting for her to explode; it seemed as if he found her outbursts amusing. When she didn't respond, he turned back to Hinata and continued.

"But anyway," he said, his face taking on a more serious look as he folded his arms across his chest. "We've got quite a lot of work to do to prepare you for the final rounds, and you're going to have to give me a one-hundred-percent-effort. Are you ready for that?"

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei," she replied quickly. "Absolutely."

"Excellent," he replied, giving her a nod and a slight grin. "Now, I have to make sure we have the basics down. I assume that you're familiar with the chakra network?"

"Yes sensei, of course I'm familiar with it," said Hinata.

"Good. Now, have you been trained to target each chakra point in the middle of a battle?"

"…No," she answered. "Only very advanced Gentle Fist users can do that. My father never even bothered trying to show me…"

Jiraiya sighed disappointedly. "Well, it'll be an incredibly useful thing to learn. If we can get you to do it in time for your match, you'll be able to face Neji on much more equal ground."

_Learn something like that in a month? _Hinata thought with dismay. _There's no way I can manage that…_

"You can't just suddenly go from not being able to hit your opponent's chakra points to being able to do it," Hanabi said hotly. "Not in a single month. It'd take _years_ of experience!"

Hinata's dismay began to grow worse. As her father had made abundantly clear, she was by no means a genius. How would she be able to learn how to strike the chakra points?

"Yeah, well, no one asked you," Jiraiya said, giving Hanabi a dismissive wave. "Your sister's perfectly capable of learning advanced techniques. I don't know if _you _can, but she has full access to the genius in her blood."

Hanabi glared up at him furiously, her face turning red as a vein began to bulge on her forehead; an amused grin tugged at Jiraiya's lips as he looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"How can I learn how to hit chakra points in the middle of a fight, Jiraiya-sensei?" Hinata quickly cut in, preventing Hanabi from saying anything she would later regret. "I can see them just fine with my Byakugan, but hitting them is…very difficult." It would be especially hard against another Gentle Fist user, who would know to watch out for something like that.

"You'll just have to train on a live target until you're capable of doing it with ease against any opponent," he explained, his attention turned back to her once again. "There's no getting past the experience bit. We're just going to have to focus on that skill and hope we can accelerate the process. Now, another vital skill you'll have to perfect is the ability to emit chakra from your chakra points. It'll be necessary to learn advanced defensive techniques."

"I already _can _emit chakra from my chakra points," Hinata told him. "It's the linchpin of the Gentle Fist style. The only way I can attack correctly is by sending chakra out from my fingertips as soon as I strike my opponent."

"Of course, that's true," agreed Jiraiya. "However, using only your hands leaves your defensive capabilities rather limited. You can only block enemy attacks the standard way, like using a kunai to deflect shuriken attacks and using your hands to parry a punch. You'd be at an even worse disadvantage against a fellow Hyuga Clan member like Neji."

"How do you figure that?"

"Think about it. You'd have to parry or dodge each and every one of Neji's attacks. Considering that he's older and more experienced than you, odds are that he's simply more comfortable with the style. His strikes will almost certainly come in too fast for you to parry or dodge all of them. It wouldn't be much trouble for him to slip past your defenses."

"So… How do I overcome this?" Was he expecting her to cram a year's worth of experience into a single month of training?

"The way I see it, there are two techniques we can try and teach you," he answered. "Both of them require you to learn how to emit chakra from other chakra points than the ones in your finger tips. The first one would be Rotation…but that one requires you to emit chakra from _every_ point in the network, along with learning how to do the spin properly. It's very advanced, and it consumes chakra very quickly, so I'm not positive if you're ready for it just yet."

Hinata remembered seeing her cousin perform a successful Rotation during his bout with Kiba. If she could master something like that…

"And if I can't learn it in time?" she asked. "What's the other technique?"

"I have something specific in mind, but to be honest I can't quite remember what it's called." He frowned and rubbed his chin, looking to be deep in thought. "In any case, it'll only require you to emit chakra from the points along your arm, and it'll consume less chakra. It's not an absolute defense, but if you use it properly you can knock your cousin on his back and gain the upper hand." He continued to rub his chin for a moment longer.

"Your clan has a scroll that is filled with every single Hyuga technique known," he suddenly stated. He said it with such authority and confidence, it almost seemed like the scroll in question had been placed under his care. "Your father has no doubt stored it away where you can't easily find it, considering its importance. I'll need you to find it and bring it to me. After you do, then we can figure out what we'll do with you."

Hanabi, her fury now cooled off, gaped up at the Sannin. "How could you possibly know something like that?" she asked incredulously. "You're an outsider! Something so important would be a guarded secret of the Hyuga Clan!"

"Don't question how I know these things," Jiraiya told her. "I just do. Now run along and get it, while your chances of slipping away without getting caught are still good."

The Sannin's advice may have been meant to get them going, but it was still true. Many of the clan members would be out working in the village at this time of day. However, most of them would return to the estate within an hour or two for lunch. If they were going to take something, now would be their best opportunity.

"We just barely came here from the estate," Hanabi grumbled. "I can't believe we'll have to walk all the way back…" She turned around and began walking slowly back the way they had come, and Hinata quickly fell in step with her.

"Hold up you two," Jiraiya ordered, and they dutifully stopped in their tracks and turned to face him. "There's one thing you two need to understand before you bring me that scroll. Under no conditions are you to open it and read its contents without me there to supervise you, got it?" Hinata nodded, nudging Hanabi with her elbow to do the same. "Good," continued Jiraiya. "Now hurry up." He sat back down in his original spot, pulling his black notebook out once again.

"Why did he say that we can't look at it?" Hanabi grumbled moodily as the two hurried out of the hot springs and back to the Hyuga Estate. "He's telling us to break the rules and steal it, but he expects us to listen to him and not open it…"

"Maybe the scroll had defensive spells placed on it," Hinata suggested. "We had to carry around secret scrolls without opening them as a test in the second part of the Chunin Exam. It wound up summoning a person who would have knocked us out if we had broken the rules."

"And you seriously expect the Secret Hyuga Scroll to summon a ninja?" Hanabi asked skeptically, suddenly giving the scroll a title.

"Well, no," Hinata said. "I was just giving an example. Maybe it's just a precaution, and he'd be able to disable any defenses. He's a Sannin, after all."

"But he's an _outsider_," Hanabi insisted. That fact seemed to be greatly troubling her. "He shouldn't even know about the scroll's existence… Father told me that it was our clan's most prized and protected possession…"

"Just how much do you know about this scroll, Hanabi?" Hinata asked. Was this some other secret that her father hadn't let her in on? "What did Father tell you about it?"

"It's the clan's…well, you heard what I just said it was. It has every single Hyuga technique known, just like he said. Supposedly it dates all the way back to the origins of the Hyuga Clan."

"That would make it…extremely old," Hinata observed. Historians had trouble establishing just how old the Hyuga Clan was; most believed a few centuries, but a few suggested that they might have been around for up to a thousand years—if not longer. She wondered if a scroll could actually survive for so long, even if it were properly cared for.

"Yeah, it is," Hanabi agreed. "It's _really_ special. If Father knew we had taken it out to look at it…let alone taking it out so some outsider could look at it…he'd be…uh, I don't think he'd take it very well." She grimaced. "But, if it's what it takes to get you ready to fight Neji, then it's just a risk we'll have to take."

Hinata couldn't help but give her sister a look. Despite knowing that their father would be furious if he found out what they'd done, she was still willing to do this for her; she had no real idea what to say or how to repay her for this.

"Hanabi…" she began, but faltered when her sister looked up at her. "…Uh, do you know where it is so we can hurry up and get it?" she ended up asking. To her slight surprise, Hanabi nodded.

"Father let slip where he kept it put away when he was telling me about it. At least, I'm pretty sure it was a slip-up. He told me that if I showed enough skill, he'd be able to teach me moves from the 'Secret Scroll,' and how he would _take it out of his office_."

"His office?" Hinata had been expecting it to be in the Hyuga Estate's large library of books and scrolls, but she quickly realized that that would be illogical. If the scroll was so treasured, there would be few better places to leave it than under the care of the clan leader.

"Yep," Hanabi affirmed. "Now, we really should hurry up, before Father goes back home." Hinata was in no position to argue, and the two girls increased their pace as they hurried home.

88888888

"That son of a bitch!" Dosu yelled furiously. "That goddamn, no good, backstabbing son of a bitch!" In his incredible rage, he hefted up a nearby potted plant and flung it as hard as he could. It crashed against the wall and shattered into pieces, leaving a dent and making a mess of moist soil on the carpet below. Seeing the needless destruction helped Dosu slightly, but not nearly enough. Blinded by fury and practically foaming at the mouth, he rabidly turned around to find something else he could wreck.

The three Sound Village Genin were alone in their assigned apartment, and no one was around to hear them talk (or, for that matter, scream). It was the first time they had been able to meet each other after the preliminaries; the severe internal wounds Kin had sustained during her bout with the Hyuga had warranted an extra day in the hospital. Dosu had had time to himself to try and get over the fact that Orochimaru had betrayed him and his team. The only thing that time had done was let his anger build up into a mad frenzy.

"We should have expected something like this, I guess…" Zaku muttered, a dazed look on his face. He was sitting down on the room's worn-out sofa , with his custom forehead protector carelessly tossed aside. He no longer wore his "death" shirt either, substituting it with a plain white shirt. It looked like he was subconsciously trying to remove anything that would associate him with Sound.

"How should we have expected him to betray us?" Kin asked him, her voice emotionless. She was leaning against the wall opposite to Dosu, eyes narrowed in silent anger and arms crossed. She had also abandoned her headband, revealing her bangs and letting locks of hair stray across her face. Dosu, who was still in the clothing he had arrived in, angrily slammed his fist against the wall, sending a slight tremor running throughout the room.

"That two-faced sack of snake shit," he muttered, showing the beginnings of restraint. Anger still surged through him every time he conjured a mental image of Orochimaru, but he decided to hold off on destroying their apartment. He began thinking up ways that he would have liked to get revenge on the Otokage, which filled him with a brief sense of satisfaction. However, they were nothing more than fantasies. He'd never get his revenge, sure as the sun wouldn't rise from the west.

"He used us," Dosu continued. "From the day he picked us up off the streets to the day he sent us to compete in the Chunin Exam, he was just using us. We never meant anything to him, he doesn't give a shit if we die. Dammit, he _wanted_ us to die!" He clenched his fists as rage filled him once again, then kicked the wall for good measure, leaving a scuff mark. Kin let out a sigh and shook her head.

"I can still remember the day he rescued me from the streets," she murmured sadly. Her tone attained a steely edge when she continued. "Probably would have been turned into some sort of slave or just ended up killed. That country was a shithole."

"Me too, probably," Zaku agreed quietly, not looking up. "For a long time I was desperate. Had no place to go, no one I could trust. The stuff I had to do… But then he found me. And I got to know you guys, and it was all a lot better after that." Though he had spoken in an emotionless monotone, his words had a profound effect on Dosu. Never before had he considered Zaku and Kin to be anything more than teammates, nor had he considered that either of them might have thought any differently about him. They never really had any trouble getting along, but thinking of them as…friends…was not something that had ever crossed his mind. Getting attached to others wasn't something he was used to.

All of them had been homeless orphans when Orochimaru entered their lives. At that point, he had still been trying to recruit a strong enough following to request permission from the Rice Lord to create a hidden ninja village. They joined the ranks of his growing support, and he trained them in the shinobi arts along with his powerful Sound Five. They even willingly allowed his scientist Amachi to perform experiments on them. Orochimaru became far more than a mere sensei to them. Among the three, he was regarded as a savior and father figure. Because of this, the devastation of his treachery ran much deeper than it would have with a normal relationship.

They had been with him as he built up his empire. They had remained devoutly loyal to him when the incident with the Fuma Clan occurred, and when civil war within Rice Country had become a very real possibility. Their loyalty had never once wavered. Apparently, that counted for absolutely nothing in Orochimaru's eyes.

"I guess we still have…each other…" Kin murmured hesitantly, surprising Dosu even further. "Orochimaru might not care about us, he can send us on all the suicide missions he wants, but…if we stick together, it won't matter."

"You'd still be willing to do anything he tells you to do?" Dosu asked, incredulous. "We can't believe a single word that stinking son of a bitch tells us anymore. For all we know, it'll be nothing but suicide missions from this point. And while '_having each other_' might sound so wonderful and pleasant, we aren't going to be able to fight our way out of everything."

"Well what do you suggest we do?" Kin asked hotly. "_Defect_?"

Dosu's visible eye bored into her. "I don't see any other option." Both of his teammates looked at him in shock.

"W-What?" Zaku asked, looking up at him with a horrified expression. "You're crazy! They'd send someone to kill us, just to make an example!"

"I don't care. At least then we'd know what we're up against. We'd know who our real enemy was."

"He's got a point, Dosu…" Kin's face expressed a rare hint of anxiety; the only emotions her teammates were used to her displaying were scorn and anger. It seemed that she was unprepared for Dosu's serious suggestion. "I mean, even if what you say is right, the worst Orochimaru will do to us is send us off on some crazy mission that would most likely get us killed… Like this one. He wouldn't kill us just for the hell of it or anything if we stayed with the Empire…"

Dosu began to wonder if his anger had clouded his judgment; having the might of Sound stacked against him was not an attractive proposition. Of course, they were right. Orochimaru would have them assassinated if they betrayed him, if for no other reason than to send a message to any other potential deserters. But what other option did they have?

Feeling exhausted, wiped out from his earlier tantrum, he collapsed into a nearby chair and hung his head. Zaku and Kin remained silent, staring at him. Why did it feel like everyone he knew was conspiring against him? For all he knew, both Kin and Zaku were actually spies from Orochimaru, making sure he remained loyal. The fact that he seriously pondered this possibility was a sign that the betrayal had left him paranoid.

Someone suddenly began to knock on the door. It wasn't particularly loud or forceful, but it made both Dosu and Zaku whip their heads to look at the door, while Kin nearly jumped in surprise. This discussion of betrayal and assassination left all three on edge, and the fact that they weren't expecting any visitors made this sudden intrusion even more alarming. It was probably no one important—a Leaf Village official checking up on them to make sure they were comfortable struck Dosu as the most likely—but all three of them froze in place, keeping completely quiet in the hopes that the person would leave. However, the person knocked again, a little louder this time.

As the knocking continued, Kin reluctantly began to head toward the door, while her teammates waited with bated breath. Dosu unconsciously reached for his weapons pouch, even though he knew it was stupid.

Kin opened the door, revealing the person on the other side. The three Sound Genin gaped in surprise, especially since the revelation partly fulfilled their fears.

"Oh," snarled Zaku from the sofa with contempt. "It's _you_."

Kabuto Yakushi strode past a glaring Kin and into the apartment; she quickly shut the door behind him. Protocol required the three Genin to give the man a salute. None of them moved a muscle.

"Well, how are you lovable bunch of losers doing this fine afternoon?" he asked them, smirking as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Who're you calling losers?" Zaku growled. Kabuto stopped smirking and gave him a hard look.

"I'm calling you three losers," he repeated. He turned to look at Dosu. "Maybe not so much you. But these two other…"

"You quit from the preliminaries!" Zaku yelled angrily. "You're in no position to—"

"Unless you want to end up buried six feet under the ground with a knife in your back, I suggest you stop talking," Kabuto said, eyes flashing dangerously. When someone with as much authority as Kabuto told you to do something, you did it; Zaku faltered and fell silent. "You three really are nothing but a bunch of losers. You didn't even recognize me at the first test—"

"Of course we recognized you," Kin snapped. "We were sent on an undercover mission! What, did you expect us to attack you and then ask how things are going with the Elite Guard?"

"The mere fact that you fell for my act and attacked me in the first place—"

"We were just playing the goddamn part!" Kin interrupted again, uncaring of the dangers that came with disrespecting a superior. "We knew what you were doing, talking about the Empire as if you'd never been there, talking about those damn camps as if they're nothing but playgrounds. You're in charge of all that shit! How the hell could we not recognize you?"

Though it was true that the Genin weren't very familiar with Kabuto and vice versa, it would have been impossible for them to not recognize each other. Orochimaru had not briefed them on the fact that Kabuto was also going to be infiltrating the Exam (he had actually departed much earlier than they had), but they played along, attacking him as if he weren't the powerful ninja they knew him to be. It was obvious that that had been what he'd wanted, so they pretended to fall for it; it couldn't have hurt the mission by distancing themselves from him.

Kabuto looked at each of them and frowned, apparently trying to remember that day's events exactly as they had happened. Eventually, he snorted and shook his head.

"I guess you're smarter than I give you credit for then," he said. "Not a whole lot, but definitely more than I'd expected."

"Why did you come here?" Dosu asked him, narrowing his eye suspiciously.

"To kill you," Kabuto said absently, picking at his fingernails. "But luckily, orders have changed, so your lives are spared. Tsuchi Kin and Abumi Zaku are to immediately report back to the Empire."

Zaku began to laugh nervously. He'd been joking about the kill part, right? He must have been. A very bad joke, but a joke nonetheless…

"What about me?" inquired Dosu. "Do I forfeit my match against that one girl?" His brow furrowed in concentration. "I can't even remember her name…some bitch with pink hair…" He remembered that the kunoichi had displayed surprisingly advanced ninjutsu powers during the preliminaries, but not much else.

"No need to be rude about it," Kabuto chided. "Your bout against Sakura Haruno is not to be interrupted. You will stay in the Leaf Village, and wait for any potential change of instructions. If none come, then fight your match to win the way you normally would."

"And us?" Kin asked. "Do we get to hop onto a train back to the Empire, or we'll have to walk?" Her voice was sarcastic, but it was a possibility that Kabuto would tell her to go the entire way on foot just to flaunt his authority. It looked like he was tempted to do it, too.

Instead, he pulled out two train tickets from one of his pockets and laid them onto the nearby stand. Kin walked over to pick them up, then took a good look at what they said.

"Coach section?" she asked furiously. Kabuto ignored her.

"The train station you two will need to arrive at is a couple of towns away," he informed them. "Don't be late. Commute between Fire Country and Sound isn't going to stay the same for very long."

"Whatever you say," Zaku muttered. "If we're lucky, Orochimaru doesn't want to test a new kind of bomb while we're riding the train…"

"What was that?" Kabuto asked sharply.

"Nothing, nothing…"

"Dosu…" Kin suddenly said, and he looked up to meet her gaze. "Do we go?" Their eyes locked, and Dosu knew exactly what she was really asking. _Are we still working for Orochimaru? _Kabuto had interrupted their serious discussion. If Dosu wanted to, he could pretend to not have meant any of it and tell her to go on. He could also tell her to not do it, which would probably force them to subdue Kabuto before he could leave. Could they take him?

"Why are you asking _him _for permission?" Kabuto asked, narrowing his eyes at her. "I've _ordered _you to go. It wasn't a pleasant suggestion." Kin ignored him, and continued to stare hard into Dosu's eye. Zaku was also leaning forward in his seat, waiting for the response. Any decision he made, they would follow. Slowly, regretfully, Dosu came to a conclusion.

"I'll see you two back in Imperial City." The decision was made. Kin nodded slightly, and Kabuto frowned, something he only seemed to do when he was confused and didn't want to show it.

"Whatever," he muttered with a shake of his head, then turned and headed for the door so he could exit. Abruptly changing his mind, he paused and turned around to face them again, and raised his fist to his chest in a formal salute. "Hail Lord Otokage," he declared.

It had no real meaning behind it; it was customary to perform a salute after orders had been received. Even so, doing it would emphasize Orochimaru's absolute control over them like nothing else. But what choice did they have on the matter? They weren't going to be leaving any time soon… As Kabuto watched them with narrowed eyes, slowly, reluctantly, the Genin team raised their fists to their chests as well. Dosu was the most unwilling to do it.

"Hail Lord Otokage," they chorused. The words felt incredibly hollow to Dosu, and they left a bitter taste in his mouth.

88888888

"Here's the scroll you needed," Hanabi said curtly as she handed it over to Jiraiya. The tone of her voice made it clear that she was still very uncomfortable with handing it over to someone like him.

"Excellent," said the Sannin happily, taking the large scroll and cradling it in his arms. Though Hinata had no idea if it really had been around for centuries, it was certainly incredibly old; it was covered with a thick layer of accumulated dust, and looked ready to tear and fall apart with the slightest mistreatment. Even though it looked like it would be taller than Hanabi if it stood on its end, the younger Hyuga had insisted on retrieving it from their father's office alone and then carrying it herself the entire way. For some reason, she was very protective of it, as if the scroll were her responsibility.

"You two did good," Jiraiya continued, looking down at them and smiling. "But you didn't open it now, did you?"

"No, Jiraiya-sensei," Hinata answered, speaking before Hanabi had the opportunity to give him a rude reply. "We did just what you said. We didn't read any of it."

"Good, good." Jiraiya knelt to the ground and set the scroll down, firmly placing one of his hands on it. As the two girls looked on, he closed his eyes in concentration and visibly gathered chakra into his hand, which the scroll appeared to absorb. It suddenly snapped open and one end rolled away from Jiraiya, revealing the scroll's contents. Or the top of the scroll's contents, at least: it could have continued to roll open for much longer, and much of the scroll was left hidden.

Both of the Hyuga sisters blinked in amazement; that the scroll didn't crumble and tear under the swift movement Jiraiya had just commanded it to do was astonishing. He moved over closer to the scroll to read it, trailing his finger along the many rows of text. Hinata's curiosity got the best of her, and she walked over to see the secret scroll for herself. Reading it over Jiraiya's shoulder, she saw endless lines of tiny, cramped handwriting and a multitude of detailed illustrations, many of them displaying jutsus that she'd never even heard about, much less seen.

The Sannin glanced up at her warily when he noticed her standing behind him, but then continued to read the scroll and paid no more attention to her. The characters were so tiny, Hinata found it impossible to read them from where she was standing. She was slightly tempted to activate her Byakugan just to read the scroll, but she decided against it. She gave up trying to read the descriptions and instead focused on the many drawings, finding that she could see just what the jutsus were meant to do without having to read a single word.

The scrolls at the very top were actually highly advanced looking, and she briefly wondered why that was. However, she quickly understood the reason: if the scroll originated from the early days of the Hyuga Clan, then it was only logical for the basic moves to be at the bottom, or beginning. As time passed, the clan would have developed more and more advanced techniques, and so they appeared at the very top. This actually appeared to be a problem for Jiraiya; he pumped some more chakra into the scroll, and it rolled open a few feet further. The techniques at the very top were too advanced and weren't what he was looking for.

He moved farther down and continued to read with a frown on his face, occasionally shaking his head slightly. Hinata followed his path, taking her time to marvel at the illustrations visible to her. Hanabi neared the scroll as well, curious about what was in it. After all, she had never seen the inside of it before.

One illustration showed the jutsu user in the center of what appeared to be a swirling torrent of blue chakra, forming a massive sphere around him. The cramped text surrounding the drawing no doubt explained how the technique was supposed to be executed. Another illustration depicted an aura of chakra completely covering the user's body, taking on the appearance of a suit of armor. A smaller picture placed several inches away showed a person with the chakra armor, but now wielding a long spear and a large round shield, both of which were also made out of chakra; his appearance strongly reminded Hinata of an ancient warrior from the Far West she had seen in a history textbook once.

The illustrations continued in much the same manner, displaying more incredible techniques. Hinata wondered how many her father knew. Was it possible he could do them all? _Is this how strong I need to be to lead the clan?_ she thought with dismay, glancing at an image of a man creating a violent cyclone of chakra around him. She suspected that she'd never be able to master techniques such as these even if she devoted the rest of her life to training.

Jiraiya extended the scroll's length several more times before he finally found what he was looking for, allowing Hinata and Hanabi to take their time and admire the various jutsus revealed. Just as Hinata had figured, they appeared to drop slightly in level the farther she walked down. However, that didn't mean that the techniques were anywhere within her range of skill. She didn't even bother trying to read the descriptions of the drawings; she knew that it would be pointless to try and memorize their execution if she wasn't good enough to do them.

She was intently studying another interesting drawing (one that depicted the user wielding a longbow made of chakra, shooting blue bolts of energy) when Jiraiya finished reading and stood up. He poured some more of his chakra into the scroll, and Hinata and Hanabi had to quickly step away from it as it suddenly rolled closed.

"I've read all I need to know," he told the girls. He picked up the scroll and handed it to Hanabi, who took it and hugged it possessively. "Take that back home and put it away exactly as you found it. I really shouldn't need it anymore." Hanabi nodded, and he turned to look at Hinata. "I know enough about the two techniques to teach them to you. But we'll save that for later. Right now, we've got to focus on teaching you to land hits on your opponent's chakra points."

Hinata nodded as well; however, the self-doubt in the back of her mind began to creep to the forefront of her thoughts. What if she couldn't learn anything in time? What if she managed it, but Neji was too strong and defeated her anyway? What if… She forced herself to stop, and instead tried focusing on something positive.

She imagined herself standing over a defeated Neji, who lay at her feet unmoving. The crowds cheering wildly for her, and Naruto running onto the field to sweep her off her feet and planting his lips upon hers…

"Did you hear anything I just said?" Jiraiya's voice suddenly asked impatiently, ruining her fantasy. He snapped his fingers in front of her face, and she blinked. Her cheeks turning a bright pink, she looked up at him.

"What?"

"I said that I'd let you train with me for a little bit, then you can go home and perfect it with your sister. Is that all right with you?"

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei," she answered. The only thing she could do was try her best, and train like crazy until she got it right. That was the way Naruto had gotten to the skill level he was at, which was enough to beat someone like Shino.

"Good, now let's hurry up and get this over with." He led her to a spot between two hot springs with enough space to allow a wide range of movement. Hanabi followed them and sat down to observe, the enormous scroll still clutched in her arms. If any members of the Hyuga Clan, or, God forbid, their father himself came to the hot springs by chance and caught them with it, it would take some fast talking to get out of serious trouble.

"Activate your bloodline limit," Jiraiya instructed, standing directly across from her. Hinata nodded and folded her hands together, activating her Byakugan. Her vision expanded to cover everything around her, and she saw straight through Jiraiya. Peering into the intricate coils of his chakra network, the many points standing out slightly, she could see chakra flowing through him like blood.

"Now that you've perfected the water walking exercise, you know how to concentrate a specific amount of chakra into a specific part of your body and then keep the amount stable as you expend the chakra. You'll need to do the same thing with your attacks, by keeping the necessary amount of chakra in your hands at all times. You have to be able to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself, and you're setting yourself up for disaster if you concentrate chakra into your hands when you need it instead of storing it there."

"I understand," Hinata told him politely; these were all things her father had told her years ago.

"Good," he said with a nod. "But you have to utilize everything you learned from the water walking exercise to perfect this. When you attack with the Gentle Fist style, you obviously expend chakra every time you strike the enemy by pumping it into him. You need to be able to use the style and not expend excess chakra each time you attack. It generally has the same result regardless of the amount of chakra used, so it's only a waste of valuable energy. The best way of doing this is by attacking the chakra points. They require the minimum amount of chakra to disable, and the results are catastrophic for the enemy, making this strategy twice as effective."

"Okay," she replied. She was familiar with the basics of disabling the chakra network; however, requiring such advanced skills as it did, her father had never bothered to go into detail about it with her. "Is there anything I should keep in mind while I do this?" she asked the Sannin, hoping he knew some helpful tips that would make it easier.

"Nothing I can think of," Jiraiya answered with a shrug. "Just whatever you keep in mind when you're trying to land any attack. It's really the same concept, but with a much smaller target than you're used to."

"Okay…" said Hinata, slightly disappointed.

"Right. Now, knowing everything you need to do, come at me and try to land a hit on at least one of my chakra points." He folded his arms across his chest and stood idle, waiting for her to move. Hinata focused on him, concentrating her enhanced vision on a chakra point on his upper abdomen.

Going through the motions of her Gentle Fist stance out of habit, she quickly bolted at him as if he were an actual opponent. He didn't try to evade, presumably to make the training easier for her. She quickly reached him, bringing her arm down low in preparation for the attack. Aiming for the chakra point, she thrust her hand forward to land a blow on it, with blue chakra flashing for an instant. As soon as her vision cleared, she could see Jiraiya's chakra network clearly again. To her surprise and frustration, she saw that she had completely missed the Sannin's chakra point; it was still functioning normally, allowing chakra to pass through unobstructed. Fuming, Hinata deactivated her Byakugan to conserve her energy.

"That was a good try, but you did a few things wrong," Jiraiya told her, somehow aware of the fact that she had failed. Most people couldn't tell when their chakra points had been deactivated, and only figured out that something was wrong when their jutsus failed to work. In this case, Jiraiya knew when his chakra points _hadn't_ been deactivated.

"First of all, you were going way too fast," he continued. "You shouldn't try so hard, especially not on your first attempt. I wasn't moving around for a reason, you know. Also, I noticed that you put too much chakra into the attack. If you were to have accurately hit one of my chakra points, it would have been more chakra than necessary."

"So less chakra in my attacks, then?"

"As long as we're training on hitting the points, then yes. Especially considering that you'll need to do this over and over again before you perfect it, you'll want to conserve as much energy as possible. Another thing we'll have to work on is improving your chakra control, but that's not as important right now, since it's good enough to get you through training."

"I thought that my chakra control had already been perfected with the water walking," Hinata said, confused. Jiraiya laughed.

"It's been greatly improved, but not perfected," he told her. "As far as I know, not even Tsunade has absolute perfect chakra control; there's always room for improvement. By training to advance your chakra control further, you'll be able to effectively use the Gentle Fist style for extended periods of time without suffering from fatigue, which makes it a very useful skill to try and learn. On top of that, you'll need highly advanced control if you ever want to learn the best moves in the scroll you brought me, like the ones near the top."

"How will I be able to increase my chakra control even more?"

"With a lot of practice. But that's something you don't have to worry about for a while. For now, you still need to hit at least one of my chakra points. Go back to where you were standing before and try again."

Hinata walked back to her previous position and got into her Gentle Fist stance, reactivating her kekkei genkai. Once again seeing through Jiraiya's chakra network, she focused on the same point as before. Running towards him for her second attempt, she was moving considerably slower than she had for her first try. Never losing sight of her target, she gathered the minimal amount of chakra into her fingers and lunged in attack. Chakra flashed.

As she looked at the chakra point she had targeted, she saw the tips of her fingers resting on it; joyfully, she realized it was deactivated. For the same reason as before, she let her eyes return to normal to save her chakra. Jiraiya knew she had landed a perfect strike as well.

"Good job, you did it," he said encouragingly. Despite having just received two Gentle Fist attacks, he was acting as if he hadn't been touched at all. "The amount of chakra was about as close to the minimum as you can make it go, and you focused on improving your accuracy enough to land a perfect hit. It looks like you've got the basics down… Now let's see you try it on a moving target." Hinata grimaced, making him grin. "This time, if you miss me, you have to keep up the assault and try again, the way you'll have to do it against Neji. Now hurry up, we're burning daylight."

Hinata walked back to stand across from Jiraiya once more. This time, he didn't keep his arms across his chest as he waited for her. Getting back into her Gentle Fist pose and using her Byakugan, she focused on Jiraiya. Knowing that he would try to dodge, she figured that she wouldn't bother focusing on one specific chakra point; she'd just attack as he left an opening.

Repeating her past actions, she ran towards him while doing her best to keep him in a position that he couldn't move out of. If he were cornered, it would be that much easier to start hitting his chakra points. She neared him and focused on one of his points, this time located on his lower chest. Her range of attack was rather limited, considering the fact that he towered over her. It would be an exercise to simply reach up and touch his chin.

As she thrust her hand forward to strike him, he suddenly parried her attack and stepped out of the way, letting Hinata stumble forward without touching him.

"Keep up the attack," he reminded her. "Don't try and start over just because you missed me the first time."

Hinata spun on her feet to face him again and charged. Lunging towards him, he again slapped her hand aside and moved out of her path; he moved surprisingly fast and nimbly for a fat old man. He didn't move to attack her as she missed him, instead remaining on the defensive and allowing her to try again. This was beginning to remind Hinata of the training sessions she'd had with her father before Hanabi had been born; she had never been able to land a single blow on him, and all the while he told her that she wasn't doing something right.

Growing frustrated, she renewed her assault, simply trying to hit any part of him she could reach and completely forgetting to aim for his chakra points. Each of her attacks were easily deflected, no matter how much speed and power she tried to put behind them. Jiraiya almost looked like he was using the Gentle Fist style himself, his hands moving quickly to parry her thrusts and finally pushing her aside.

"You're not doing what you're supposed to," he said sternly as she paused to catch her breath. "Start over, and remember, _you're trying to target my chakra points_." Nodding, Hinata tried to calm herself down and walked back to her original position.

"Here's a tip," Jiraiya told her. "I'm blocking any attacks you throw at me with my arms. So aim for the chakra points in my arms, since I won't be able to defend them. Neji will have the same problem, so it'd be a good strategy to try and use that to your advantage."

_Of course_, Hinata considered. _It would be like getting in a swordfight with a soldier that doesn't have a shield. The sword would be his only form of defense, along with being his only weapon. If an enemy soldier were to knock the sword out of his hands… _"Thanks for the advice, Jiraiya-sensei," she said out loud.

Confidently, Hinata launched a new attack against Jiraiya. This time, she didn't throw all of her weight behind an attack as soon as she reached him. She swung her hand towards him, which he successfully blocked. He tried to step out of her way, but she was no longer letting momentum carry her. She brought her other hand around to attack a chakra point on his side. He was unable to block, and chakra flashed as her hand collided with him. To her dismay, the point was still activated as he quickly moved out of her range of attack. She had been close, though.

Since she hadn't shot straight past him, she was able to continue her attack on him. This time, she didn't let her frustration take over and remembered to aim for his chakra points, taking his advice to aim for the ones along his arms. Sometimes Jiraiya was able to completely evade her, but more often than not he was forced to try and parry her attacks, leaving an opening for her to try and target his arm.

Blue chakra flashed over and over again as she struck Jiraiya, though the pinprick-sized chakra points constantly eluded her hands. Determined, Hinata continued her attacks, never letting up for an instant.

Hours passed, with Hinata's energy gradually draining and leaving her exhausted. After what had seemed like an eternity of pointless efforts, she wound up striking one of Jiraiya's chakra points. It had happened quite on accident, with her swinging at his raised arm in what she expected to be another futile attempt. Just like the previous time, he immediately knew that she had done it.

"Good job!" he said, sounding tired, and Hinata deactivated her Byakugan so she could see normally once again. Placing her hands on her knees, she closed her eyes, panting in exhaustion for several moments. Her entire scalp felt moist, and beads of sweat were running down her face, but she was too tired to even reach up and wipe them away. Sweat was also running down her torso, drenching her undershirt and making her uncomfortable; she wished she had thought to take off her sweater before beginning her training. Though she wished she could just lie down on the ground and rest, she opened her eyes and forced herself to stand up straight. Looking at Jiraiya, she could see that he was also taking advantage of the chance to catch his breath.

Sweat had gathered on the Sannin's forehead, and he quickly wiped it away with his sleeve. He certainly seemed a bit worse for wear than when they had first started; his shoulders sagged, and he grimaced slightly whenever he moved his arms. Apparently, letting someone whale on you with Gentle Fist attacks for the better part of the afternoon took its toll no matter who you were.

However, it didn't prevent him from proudly giving her a wide grin. Reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder, he looked up at the sun, which was starting to lower and pushing late afternoon into dusk. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked back down at Hinata.

"It's starting to get late. We'll just call it a day for now, especially since Hanabi was too lazy to return the scroll earlier and now you have to hurry up and put it back." He chuckled slightly and took a breath before continuing. "Eh, and forget what I said earlier. When you get home, just get rested so that you won't be too exhausted to train tomorrow; don't try training alone until you get this perfected, because it'll probably be a waste of time and energy."

_Hanabi won't be too happy about that… _Hinata realized. Her little sister had been expecting to be taught something new when they returned to the estate. However, Jiraiya was right. She shouldn't completely drain herself, not when she needed the energy so badly for honing her Gentle Fist proficiency. She could always teach Hanabi the things she had learned after the Chunin Exam was over. Or, more precisely, once she had beaten Neji.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei," she said

"So, come here around lunch time tomorrow, and we can continue this," Jiraiya went on. "Until then, I'll see you later…" He waved and turned away from her, slowly heading out of the hot springs. Hinata exhaled slowly, exhausted. Wiping the sweat off her face, she removed her sweater in an effort to cool off. She turned to where Hanabi was waiting for her, scroll in arms, and began walking in her direction.

"Let's go home now," she told her sister, still short on breath. "I'm tired, and we have to put the scroll back before Father finds out it's gone."

"Right," agreed Hanabi. They began to walk out of the hot springs together, aiming for streets that didn't get much traffic in an effort to reduce the chances of being caught.

"I behaved good, right?" Hanabi asked.

"Yes, you were fine," Hinata said. "I don't think Jiraiya-sensei likes you very much, but you were fine."

"Humph." Hanabi scowled, annoyed about the Sannin's dislike of her.

As they walked, Hinata continually eyed the scroll in Hanabi's arms curiously. It had clearly been around for a while, but did it truly date all the way back to the Hyuga Clan's origins? For that matter, how old was her clan really supposed to be? She had never wondered about these things before, but she was suddenly finding herself very curious. The people who wrote this scroll were the ones who laid the foundations of her clan, allowing it to grow and prosper until their family name became synonymous with perfection. The scroll was like a direct link to them, and she felt a slight temptation to reach out and touch it. However, anticipating that Hanabi would give her a funny look, she stayed her hand.

As she continued to ponder her questions, she made a mental note to pay a visit to the Estate's library. Perhaps she'd be able to find some answers in one of the many books or scrolls lining the dusty shelves.

Provided that their father didn't catch them on their way back in, of course. Shuddering at the thought, she quickened her step, and motioned for Hanabi to keep up.

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The laps had left Naruto feeling completely exhausted. He could hardly move as he had staggered back to where Guy waited for him impatiently. After that, he had been allowed to remove his leg weights only so he could attempt the strenuous water walking exercise once again. Quick to rage, Naruto realized that he was doing no better than he had the day before. Guy noticed it as well, though his enthusiasm for getting it right never wavered (he seemed to go from being a harsh disciplinarian to a cheerleader with ease). He continued to shout would-be encouraging comments as Naruto attempted to perfect the technique.

Again, the most he could do was stand up halfway sunken into the water, with his feet and ankles completely submerged. Though he no longer had to worry about completely sinking into the water and getting drenched, he wound up removing his sandals and rolling his pant legs up. He practiced for hours, only allowed to take two breaks the entire time: one for lunch and the other for dinner. After the long day of training, he had made no visible progress to speak of.

Just when it looked like Guy was ready to make him practice until long after the sun had set, the Jonin suddenly called for him to stop.

"Naruto," he called. "Come here."

Eager to stop the exhausting exercise, Naruto scrambled out of the cold river as fast as he could and ran up to Guy.

"Yes, Guy-sensei?" he asked. _Please, tell me there's an easier way to learn the taijutsu moves!_ Guy looked down at him and rubbed his chin.

"You say that you had no problem learning the tree climbing technique?" he asked.

"No," Naruto answered.

"Hmm… Lift up your shirt for me, would you?"

"Eh, what?"

"Lift up your shirt, and let me see your stomach."

Confused, Naruto reluctantly unzipped his jacket and pulled up the bottom of his black shirt, exposing the bare pink skin underneath. What exactly was Guy looking for? Was this an easier way, somehow?

"Good," Guy said. "Now, keeping your shirt up, try concentrating your chakra for me." Naruto felt compelled to argue about these bizarre commands, but he was too tired to put up any resistance. He wasn't even sure if he had enough chakra to concentrate to do anything with it.

Clumsily lifting his shirt up further, he tucked its hem under his chin and folded his hands together. He closed his eyes in concentration, summoning all available chakra he had left. After a moment, he felt Guy place the palm of his hand on his stomach. A moment later, he withdrew it.

"Thank you," he said. "You can stop now." Naruto opened his eyes and lifted his chin up, letting his shirt fall back down to cover his abdomen.

"Naruto, has anyone performed a…sealing jutsu on you lately?"

"A what?" asked Naruto, confused. He wasn't even entirely sure what a sealing jutsu was, though he knew that it had played a part in containing the demon fox within him.

"Actually, let me ask you this," Guy said. "Have you run into any Sannin lately?"

"Any what?" Naruto repeated, even more confused. Unlike with the sealing jutsu, he'd never even heard the word "Sannin" before. What was he talking about? Guy sighed and shook his head.

"I'd explain everything to you right now, but I'm not even very sure about what's going on myself," said the Jonin. "All I know is that it's ridiculously hard for you to do this exercise. So much so, that it would have been impossible for you to have mastered the tree climbing in your current state. Something seems to have happened to your chakra control since then, and all I've got is a hunch."

"And… What can you do to help me?"

"Absolutely nothing," Guy answered. "Tomorrow, meet me at the Hokage's office instead of coming here… And you don't have to worry about showing up late."

"The Hokage's office? What will we be doing there?"

"You'll see when tomorrow comes," he said. "Until then, go home and recover. You must be exhausted." It was the first time that Guy had ever acknowledged that Naruto was actually tired; previously, it had seemed like he had expected him to have an endless supply of chakra. Naruto's stamina was good, but not _that_ good.

"Uh, right. I'll do that." He picked up the leg weights and carried them in his arms, beginning to walk back home.

"You should put those on," Guy advised him.

"Why? You just said that I must be exhausted!"

"All right, all right… I just figured that you'd want to have an edge over Sasuke in your battle, is all…" Guy grinned and took off, not bothering to see Naruto's scowl at those words. That damn trick again.

Shaking his head, Naruto did his best to ignore it and pretend he hadn't heard. However, he only made it a few steps before an infuriating image entered his mind: that of Sasuke standing over him triumphantly, a smirk on his face as the proctor declared him the winner and the entire arena cheered wildly. His eyes flashing, Naruto growled in anger and stopped in his tracks.

Cursing, he reluctantly knelt down to put the weights back on. The part that made him the angriest was that he was doing it by his own decision; Guy wasn't forcing him. All the same, he had to win his match. Sasuke would be the one on the ground, not him.

Walking back into the city and up to his apartment took nearly an hour and a half, when before it only took him fifteen minutes. It gave him a lot of time to think about everything that was going on, which could be sort of nice. Sometimes, this sort of reflection was helpful and soothing; other times, it just made him angry and built into a rage. Either way, thinking about something else helped him forget about the incredible strain each step he took put on him.

He thought about how much he wanted, _needed_, to beat Sasuke. For years he'd tried desperately to accomplish this, but no matter how much training he put in, the Uchiha was always ten steps ahead.

If only he'd been able to surpass Sasuke, all those years in the Academy wouldn't have been such a living hell. If only he'd been able to beat Sasuke, the girls in the class wouldn't have given the Uchiha all their attention, and the punks would have thought twice about messing with him. If only he'd been able to beat Sasuke, Sakura would have noticed how awesome he was, and accepted his proposals and been his girlfriend. Defeating Sasuke now wouldn't undo the past, but if nothing else, it'd be a memorable milestone on his road to becoming the Hokage…and finally proving himself to be the better of the two would feel _really_ damn good.

He grinned, anticipating how incredible the victory would feel. After enjoying that for a few minutes, his thoughts slowly drifted to the matches his teammates would be in.

Hinata's battle against a genius like Neji probably wouldn't be much easier than his own. She was not only fighting a member of her family, she was fighting one of the most skilled opponents in the Chunin Exam. Though he doubted Hinata held any sort of grudge against her cousin, it would still undoubtedly prove to be a tough match.

And Sakura… She looked like she was fighting one of the easier opponents. If the preliminaries had shown anything, it was that the Hidden Sound Village must have been full of pansies. He could only imagine the state of disrepair that the rest of that country's military must have been in.

As his thoughts turned to his pink-haired teammate, a deep frown began to form on his face. Numerous images of Sakura supporting him in his upcoming fight flashed across his mind briefly; her grinning at him and offering him words of encouragement, watching him train and commenting how strong he'd become, cheering him on during the match, and giving him a tight hug and passionately planting numerous kisses upon his face once he'd won. Throughout the years, he'd had many similar fantasies of her, and the mere thought of these scenes coming true always made him feel as if he could float.

This time, however, instead of cheering up and adopting a silly grin, as he usually did when thinking of her, his frown merely deepened. For possibly the first time, he knew that such things wouldn't happen in reality, accepted it, and decided to not bother trying to make it happen. Sure, he could—_would_—beat Sasuke. But all the rest? _No way she'd ever cheer me on to beat him_, he thought with a sigh. _Not in a million years._

Ever since her first rejection of him, he had told himself that he could get her to accept him eventually; if only he grew a little bit stronger, if only he tried a little bit harder, if only he scored a little bit higher, she would see how amazing he was and realize that he was the one for her. And he kept at it, undeterred by anything, even as Sasuke repeatedly pounded his face into the ground, and even as Sakura continued giving him looks as if he were a booger stuck on her shirt. Nothing had ever been able to convince him to give up on winning her.

Now, though… When she had been placed in the same team as him, he had been ecstatic, seeing it as his greatest opportunity yet to capture her heart. And, while the two had been through a lot together, and she no longer seemed to despise him as she once had (and had possibly even grown to consider him a friend), he had no delusions that she had forgotten all about her feelings for Sasuke.

He hoped that she'd at least have the decency to keep from cheering for Sasuke during their fight, but he had his doubts; as he knew all too well by now, there was something about the Uchiha that made girls crazy.

Reaching his apartment complex, he began the strenuous task of ascending the stairs all the way to his home. Once he finally made it to his room at the top of the building, he unhooked his weights and let them fall to the floor with a dull thump. Stumbling into the bathroom, he removed all of his clothes and climbed into the shower, making the water go as hot as possible.

He merely stood there, letting the water relax his sore muscles; trying to perfect chakra control always affected the entire body. Exhausted, he never even reached for the soap and shampoo, and only got out of the shower when the water turned cold. Feeling a little better, he got into his pajamas and climbed into bed, even though there was still a little sunlight left. He didn't care to stay up late tonight. Both physically and mentally exhausted, he fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

88888888

The train ride to the border had passed uneventfully for Hanzaki. Having ridden in a train only a couple of times before, he wasn't entirely certain what to expect, but the experience proved to be nothing special. It was slightly cramped, stuffed with numerous other military officers of varying degrees of importance and several "special" soldiers as well (most visibly nin-bird and nin-snake handlers, who stood out due to their distinctive uniforms, and the occasional Sound Village shinobi). Due to the high volume of passengers, the air inside became almost insufferably hot; he wished he could open the window by his seat to get some fresh air, but he found to his dismay that, short of smashing it, opening it wasn't an option.

The train was of a newer model, boasting greater speed and better fuel efficiency (if not comfort for its passengers); Hanzaki wondered if the design was borrowed from the Land of Snow. Along with the train's speed, the track it ran along was almost a completely straight line to the border, further diminishing the amount of necessary traveling time. All variables considered, the train would be arriving with the rest of the army later that evening at the earliest and the next morning at the latest.

Cutting a path through the countryside, the train at least let Hanzaki enjoy the view. Peering out the window, he could see miles of rolling green pastures with the occasional village dotting the landscape. The view would then change to reveal endless fields of rice farms, after which the country had been named for the better part of several centuries. Every now and then, a large metropolis was also to be seen, though the train wasn't close enough to catch a great view. The rocking of the train, coupled with a full stomach from the lunch handed out to passengers, lulled him into a state of drowsiness.

Leaning back in his seat, Hanzaki closed his eyes and quickly dozed off. He wasn't sure how long he was out, but he was abruptly awoken when the train reached its destination; there was a loud screech as the train slowed to a halt, its wheels grinding against the rails in a shrill scream. Opening his eyes and blinking repeatedly, he blearily looked out the window to see that the sun had already set and evening had replaced daylight. It appeared that they had stopped at a station within a city near the border. The passengers around him were beginning to get up and disembark, filing out the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.

Grunting, Hanzaki replaced his peaked cap back onto his head and stood up, beginning to head out as well. His luggage was being kept in a separate car of the train, and would probably be delivered to him later. Once he made it out of the cramped confines of the train, he was free to stretch his legs and walk on the smooth pavement of the station.

Finally escaping the train, he took several deep breaths of cool air, which helped awaken him further. His senses restored, he looked around at the hive of activity around him; the numerous other passengers were all either meeting up with someone who had been waiting for them or were quickly leaving for some undetermined destination. Glancing upward, Hanzaki could clearly see the Imperial Sound flag flying from a pole above the station, though its design appeared significantly more warlike. Though the national colors were still the same (white, black, and dark purple), the white roundel in the middle was now bordered by the black silhouette of a snake, its body curved into a circle with its head nearly touching the tip of its tail. A forked tongue was protruding slightly from the head, confirming beyond all doubt that it was intended to look like an intimidating snake and not some strange worm.

"Colonel Fuma?" called out an unsure voice from behind him, and he quickly turned to see a young man in a pressed uniform walking towards him. The stranger had sharp, handsome facial features, dark brown hair, and walked with a spring in his step, as if he were enthusiastic or happy about something. He wore a peaked cap and a badge across his chest symbolizing he held the rank of major. Hanzaki guessed that he wasn't a day past his mid-twenties.

"Hanzaki Fuma?" the man repeated as soon as he reached him, though his voice contained a bit more confidence now that he could clearly recognize him. Hanzaki was indeed very easy to recognize among the crowd, being the largest person there.

"That's me," confirmed the colonel, looking at the man warily. Who was he? Had Arashi arranged this?

"Ah, thought I recognized you," said the young man, his face splitting into a grin. He extended his hand. "I'm Major Roiyaru."

"A pleasure to meet you," Hanzaki continued formally, grasping Roiyaru's hand as the man pumped it up and down with fervency, demonstrating a surprisingly strong grip. He noticed that the major wore a ring, and recognized it as a graduation ring from some military academy; he wondered if the man would notice that Hanzaki lacked one of his own.

"I've been assigned to be your adjutant, Colonel Fuma," said Roiyaru, releasing his hand. After that enthusiastic handshake, Hanzaki's hand was left feeling like it had been caught in a vice, and he held back the urge to massage his sore fingers. "Knowing that you're a newcomer to the site and all, I'll escort you to Operational HQ. We'll be expected back soon."

"Uh, thank you…" No one had said anything about an aide being assigned to him, or that he was going to be expected anywhere upon arrival. It must have been decided at the last minute, or perhaps Arashi figured it too trivial to mention at their meeting. Roiyaru beckoned and began to lead him through the throngs of personnel and out of the station into the brightly-lit city. More Imperial Sound flags featuring the snake were flapping from poles on top of multiple buildings, and armed soldiers were busily traveling across the city. It looked like the small civilian settlement had been converted into a military camp.

"What's the name of this city?" Hanzaki asked his guide, struggling to be heard over the hubbub. It was yet another detail Arashi had left out, and he was curious to know.

"Naikatei," Roiyaru answered back. "It was nothing but a small border town until the rearmament. After Lord Otokage's reforms, a full garrison was placed here, which pretty much altered the entire way of life. Recruitment in these parts skyrocketed… Along with the recovered economy, the city was allowed to prosper and grow in size. By this point, it's almost nothing more than a giant base for Army Group North."

"Army Group North?" asked Hanzaki, puzzled.

"Yes, sir," replied Roiyaru. "AG South is stationed in and around Uchiage, a city about fifty kilometers away from here. Pretty similar to here, just…farther south."

"Wait, how many army groups are there?" Hanzaki asked, confused as ever. He was going to send Arashi a letter of complaint the first chance he got; the intelligence commander of the Elite Guard had told him virtually nothing.

"Only two, sir," Roiyaru answered. He scratched his chin, attempting to recall a certain piece of information. "North is made up of the Sixth, Seventh, and Second Armies," he finally went on. "South is made up of only the Twelfth, Fourth, and the Ninth. At this border alone, the Empire has a grand total of sixty thousand men. On top of that, we've got about five hundred nin-snakes and three hundred nin-birds. It's enough to conquer Hot Springs three times over."

Hanzaki grunted and nodded; from what little he'd heard from intelligence reports of Hot Springs' military capabilities, they were vastly outnumbered and outgunned. And as fearsome a number as 60,000 was, Hanzaki knew that it was only a small fraction of Sound's total military force. Though the Land of Fire may have outweighed the Empire of Sound in every respect imaginable, the Imperial forces were certainly nothing to roll your eyes at. They had already proved themselves to be competent in the Snow Civil War. With help from allies, the Empire was more than capable of toppling the monstrously powerful Fire Country.

"And do you honestly believe that sixty thousand men are here strictly for defense?" Hanzaki asked skeptically. The last he had heard, no plans about Daybreak had been told to the troops yet.

"Of course not, sir," answered Roiyaru, briefly turning his head back as they walked. "Orders have started coming down to mobilize for invasion. Haven't you heard?"

"No, I was on a train all day…" Hanzaki felt slightly ashamed of himself for expecting Roiyaru to be a complete fool.

"Supposedly, Lord Otokage is going to address the public from Imperial City about it. It _is_ a momentous occasion, you know. We've waited long enough for this, haven't we? Starting now, we're going to get back on top of the world!"

Hanzaki didn't quite share Roiyaru's enthusiasm. Though he wanted Rice Country−or Sound−to prove itself as a powerful nation, he had a rather intimate knowledge of Orochimaru's lies and deception. He still wished that the country could have clawed its way to the top without the help of a foreigner. He decided to change the subject.

"So tell me about yourself, Major Roiyaru," he suddenly said. "You got a first name or what?" Though he said it in a normal tone, it seemed like Roiyaru interpreted it as an order.

"Uh… Akio, sir," the aide replied slowly, sounding like he was taken by surprise by this new line of questioning. Despite the reluctance in the major's voice, Hanzaki persisted with the questions.

"Got any family?" he pressed. He figured that he was going to have to get to know his new aide, and his life story was as good a place to start as any. "Were you a military brat or what?"

"No," answered Roiyaru hesitantly, and he began chewing on the inside of his cheek nervously. Hanzaki had a feeling that Roiyaru wouldn't be answering at all if he didn't outrank him.

"My parents own a tea shop in a town not far from Imperial City," the major finally continued. "I'm an only child. I wanted to join the military ever since I was there to see Rice Fields get screwed over by the Treaty of Surrender." His voice grew bitter at that, and Hanzaki couldn't blame him for it. "I'd been too young to enlist for the war… Look, we're almost at HQ." Roiyaru increased his pace and hurried to a large, well-lit building several streets away. It sounded like he wasn't very eager to talk about his personal history with someone he'd just met; Hanzaki decided that he wouldn't bring it up again.

Hanzaki recalled that Arashi had also been too young to serve in the war due to his age, despite his advanced skills as a shinobi. The war ended before Arashi could fight in it, but he went on to fight enthusiastically with his fellow Fumas on the side of the daimyo, increasing his abilities and eventually gaining him the unquestionable position as the clan's prodigy. It made for an interesting story, but not one that Hanzaki cared to remember at the moment.

He had to struggle to keep up with Major Roiyaru, pushing his way through the busy crowds of civilians and soldiers. It felt like some sort of festival was taking place, and the atmosphere had an exciting charge to it. Soldiers and civilians alike were talking and laughing loudly, and several people were passed out on the sidewalk, empty sake bottles gripped tightly in their hands. It looked more like an early victory celebration than a preparation to invade; word about the coming conquest was spreading quickly. He wondered if a speech from Orochimaru would be necessary for every Sound citizen to be aware of it.

When he finally caught up with his adjutant, he saw that Roiyaru was conversing with an armed guard at the entrance gate of the wall surrounding the HQ. The soldier, he noted, was a typical non-shinobi, and not a member of the Elite Guard. That was certainly one difference the frontlines had from the capital: there were now very few ninjas to be found amongst the legions of normal soldiers.

Roiyaru apparently got clearance for both of them to pass, for the guard waved both of them through as soon as Hanzaki reached the sentry's position. The soldier had a tired look, with dark circles under his eyes. It looked like he hadn't had a break in a long while. A long spear was clutched in his hand, and he had a large, rectangular shield propped up against a nearby wall. Like everything else, it had a quaver stamped onto it.

"Standard protocol," Roiyaru explained about the security as the two headed for the main building. "Things are beginning to heat up, and we can't have any foreigners or civilians coming in. They might be covert agents or paid informants, and we can't risk any information getting out at this stage."

"Perfectly understandable," said Hanzaki, though he doubted that a foreign spy needed to make it inside of the HQ to realize that an invasion would be coming. He supposed that at least this way, they wouldn't find out the exact details.

The two made it inside the building. Once they entered, it felt like they had crossed into a different world altogether. It looked like there was nothing but utter chaos going on inside, with ringing telephones, clacking typewriters, and various figures in decorated uniforms running around the floor and shouting orders. The air was incredibly stuffy, and Hanzaki's uniform began to feel prickly and uncomfortable. Loosening his collar slightly, he tried to find his way through. He was beginning to hate this place already.

Roiyaru suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and beckoned him to follow, then continued to lead him through the crowds of rushing military officers. If a spy managed to make his way in here, it would be no trouble to go unnoticed; no one spared Hanzaki or Roiyaru a second glance.

"I'll take you to General Dekiagari's office," Roiyaru practically shouted to Hanzaki, struggling to be heard above all the noise. "Uh… You do know who he is, right?"

"Of course I know who he is," Hanzaki replied. He didn't need Arashi to have informed him of who the Imperial Sixth Army's commander was. Meeting him would probably clear up a great deal, since Arashi hadn't seen fit to explain much of anything to him. Major Roiyaru led him down several narrow hallways and past a few crowded lounge rooms. As Hanzaki looked inside them, they all appeared to have virtually the same curious scene: decorated military officers and simple soldiers crowding around television sets that blared public news updates. Roiyaru suddenly stopped outside of one particular lounge room, apparently recognizing several people inside. It looked exceptionally dark and crowded, with a single flickering light bulb swinging from the ceiling. The television screen provided better illumination.

"Uh… General Dekiagari's office is just around the corner," Roiyaru hesitantly said to Hanzaki, pointing in the right direction. "You should be able to find it by yourself, since his name is printed on it. Unless, of course, you still need me to−"

"No, no," cut in Hanzaki. It was no small relief finding out that Roiyaru didn't want to follow him everywhere. "It's fine. I'll go on by myself."

"Okay then. I'll be waiting for you in here if you need to find me." Roiyaru swiftly entered the dimly lit room and took his place in the crowd around the small television. Whatever was being reported, it certainly captivated its audience. Hardly anyone was making a sound in the entire room.

Hanzaki continued in the direction Roiyaru had instructed him, easily finding the right door. Just as his adjutant had said, the office was clearly marked. _Lieutenant General Noboru Dekiagari_ was stamped onto it, preceded by the uniform quaver. The fact that there was no secretary present to tell him whether it was okay to enter was a testament to how rushed and slapped-together everything was around the base. Knocking on the door, he waited for Dekiagari's snappy voice to allow him in.

Entering the room, he was confronted with the sight of an incredibly messy and disorganized office, with numerous stacks of papers on top of Dekiagari's desk. There was no guest seat for Hanzaki to settle into. Indeed, Dekiagari's own chair was a cheap plastic foldout.

The man himself was leaning towards elderly, looking to be in his fifties. Devoid of facial hair, he had thick dark eyebrows and a large, pointed nose. His receding hairline revealed a wide and wrinkled forehead, and the hair around his ears was a solid white, though the rest was jet black. At the moment, the general was barking angrily into a phone, giving Hanzaki some insight to the many preparations that needed to take place for the invasion.

"…Doesn't matter how you do it, just get those warhawks as close as you can to the landing strip! I don't care how spooked they get by all the traffic going on nearby, we can't have them anywhere else but there!" Whatever the other person was telling him, it seemed to be getting him madder by the second. Silence followed for a moment, which ended when Dekiagari angrily continued.

"Of course you don't keep them next to the snakes! They'll get even worse if you do! Besides, the snakes are being moved to rest closer to the actual border, that way they'll have less distance to slither when the time comes." Another several seconds, and this time the general positively exploded.

"I don't give a rat's ass what's going on in Wind Country!" he roared. "I don't have time for your childish excuses! Since when does some foreign politics affect military traffic hundreds of miles away? All I know is that General Ojika wants all available nin-birds in their right positions, and there's going to be hell to pay if they're not there by tomorrow morning!" Dekiagari slammed the phone down on the receiver, hanging up on the man on the other end. Huffing, he turned up and gave Hanzaki a tired look, one even worse than that of the sentry's.

"Can I help you?" he asked dully, a drastic change from the furious tone he had used seconds before. He had dark beady eyes, which bored into Hanzaki and made him feel slightly uneasy, as if he were under investigation.

"I'm Colonel Fuma," Hanzaki introduced himself, keeping his voice firm and unwavering. Years of watching his step around Arashi and the Otokage had trained him in this attribute. "I just arrived here. Major Roiyaru told me that I was to meet with you."

"Ah yes, Hanzaki Fuma…" Dekiagari stared down at his desk and began rubbing his temples, looking as if he were under heavy strain at the moment. He certainly did not seem like someone to be feared, which would be a pleasant change from Arashi. Dekiagari looked very human at the moment, unlike the monsters back in Imperial City. He looked back up to meet Hanzaki's eyes. "You'd be a shinobi, then?"

"Yes, sir."

"We don't get very many ninjas around here," Dekiagari muttered, sounding as if he were talking to himself. Taking his hands off his forehead, he unconsciously reached for a pack of cigarettes in his breast pocket, pulling one out and lighting it. Placing it between his lips and inhaling deeply, he leaned back into his plastic chair and blew out a thick cloud of gray smoke before continuing.

"It seems that any ninja that doesn't get shipped off to those camps ends up joining the Elite Guard… Especially members of the Fuma Clan." He narrowed his eyes and gave Hanzaki a scrutinizing gaze, as if he detected some sort of conspiracy. "What are you doing in the Army when you could be getting better pay and an easier job in the Guard?"

"I… I'm a veteran from the last war, sir. I decided I'd rather return to the frontlines as a soldier than stay at the capital as a police officer." Hanzaki decided that he'd pretend to be neutral about the Empire's barbaric practices. He wasn't sure how much Dekiagari was a supporter of that ideology, and didn't want to make their very first meeting a bad one.

"I'm a veteran too," said Dekiagari, nodding, a piece of information that Hanzaki had already guessed. His expression relaxed, put at ease by Hanzaki's explanation. "Though I was just a captain by the time we lost. I never left the military, and managed to keep my job even through the forced downsizing the Treaty imposed on us. Damn, those were turbulent times…" He sighed deeply and blew out another cloud of smoke, which was quickly beginning to fill the small office. "My rank was elevated over time, eventually getting me all the way to lieutenant general by the time Lord Otokage started rearming the country. Long road to get here. _Long_ road."

The period of time after their defeat had been turbulent indeed. The humiliating Treaty of Surrender had forced Rice Fields to keep its army at a tiny size, and practically dissolved the navy and warhawk force all together. Revolutions and attempted coups constantly broke out under the banner of restoring the country to power, though the government crushed each one.

After relative peace had finally settled, Orochimaru mysteriously came along and offered to create a hidden shinobi village that would be loyal to the daimyo. For some reason, it was never revealed to the public just where the village was located. Non-shinobi were not allowed to live there, and it could not be found on any maps. Presumably, the government was aware of where it could be found, but they maintained a strict silence as well. Hanzaki knew for himself exactly where it could be found, but he was bound by oath to not reveal the secret, especially since there would be dire consequences if he did.

The village was actually a secret underground bunker in a secluded location, and it engaged in many activities. Mission requests were given to the national government, which relayed the message to the village. Orochimaru, the self-proclaimed Otokage (before he took it a step further and became the self-proclaimed emperor), would then dispatch a team of ninjas to accomplish the requested mission.

Only a select few shinobi were allowed into the village towards the beginning. There was no Ninja Academy, and civilians weren't even allowed to live there, ruling out the graduation of new Genin.

Oddly enough, there actually was a small number of young Genin-level ninjas who served under him when he first founded the village, though where they had come from remained a mystery to Hanzaki. He could only assume that Orochimaru had recruited them off the streets with the promise of power. Some of those Genin were what he called his "Sound Five," and the remaining ones were the team sent to compete in the Chunin Exam. The Fuma Clan was eventually contacted by a messenger of Orochimaru, wanting to enlist their aid in the Sound Village's creation. Arashi was the first to join them, and the rest of the clan quickly followed his lead.

After the creation of the village was complete, ninjas had flocked to join, though the clans that had been with Orochimaru from the beginning, Fumas included, remained his favorites. Since none of the shinobi had ever been officially ranked, Orochimaru set about judging their skills himself and ranking them accordingly. Anyone at Genin-level who he hadn't recruited himself was assigned a Jonin sensei, just like a normal hidden village. No one ranking below Genin was accepted.

The Otokage also had heavy influence with the rest of Rice Country, as he traveled throughout the country regularly, delivering speeches and lectures to willing audiences. He also made good use of the wireless network, delivering speeches over the radio that could be heard by everyone in the nation at the same time. For security reasons, Orochimaru never gave television interviews and rarely went by a name other than "Lord Otokage." If he revealed his true identity so early on, he would have risked being discovered by Fire Country ambassadors and summarily arrested. Later on, due to cunning planning on Orochimaru's part, security no longer became an issue. Until that day, however, the criminal had no choice but to watch his step and carry out each of his actions with caution.

There had never been a shortage of people willing to listen to him. Whenever Hanzaki happened to hear one of his sermons, whether it be in person or over the radio, it sounded more like Orochimaru was reading off a list titled "_Fifty Things that Really Piss Me Off_" to the crowds. However, he quickly had the population of Rice Country eating out of his hands. They wanted a scapegoat for the country's defeat and economic collapse, and Orochimaru was only too happy to give them one.

His power and popularity quickly grew, becoming an instant favorite with the citizens because he instilled a strong sense of national pride and offered many practical solutions to the people's problems. Though each crisis was attributed to the kekkei genkai carriers without variable, Orochimaru nonetheless found ways to fix things in a way the country's leader couldn't match.

A favorite trick of the Otokage was to align himself with the nation's working class and claim that he had their best interests at heart. In a clear bid for sympathy, he also attributed his need for a mask to experiments carried out on him by the bloodline carriers of the Hidden Leaf Village, which had permanently left him with a fearsome appearance. There was probably no truth behind that tale, but it achieved its desired effect. Hanzaki didn't doubt for a moment that Orochimaru would have given sex advice if he thought it would increase his influence.

With the Sound Village becoming a vital source of income for the impoverished country, the daimyo was very inclined to listen to anything Orochimaru had to say. So was the majority of the population.

As the Otokage's power and influence continued to expand, he suddenly became bold and began to criticize the daimyo, convincing the people to protest his policies. The people were only too happy to follow Orochimaru's lead; riots broke out in major cities, with violence aimed against government establishments and kekkei genkai carriers. Officially, Orochimaru never condoned any of it. However, the then paramilitary Elite Guard was also officially deployed to "aid the citizens of Rice Country in the defense of their civil rights," as Orochimaru's propaganda minister, Usotsuki Fuma, put it. Civil war was a very real possibility at this critical point, which would have pitted Orochimaru's supporters against the national government. That did not happen.

Tired of all the dissent, the daimyo eventually just handed over almost all authority to Orochimaru, which proved to be a fatal mistake for him. He was removed from power, with the Otokage crowning himself emperor, cunningly doing away with the National Council, arresting any political opposition, and renaming the country. The people of the country were never once stunned or discouraged by this maneuver; actually, they only seemed to like Orochimaru even more. They loved someone who took action. It had been a very slow and delicate process, but Orochimaru had gone from being a shifty foreigner to the beloved leader of the entire nation. In the eyes of the people, he was a hero.

Under Orochimaru's leadership, the restrictions of the Treaty of Surrender were blatantly violated, such as rapid military expansion. Naturally, the people adored him for this change, and the armies grew to massive sizes. The military was then dispatched to fight in a foreign civil war together with newfound allies, to "secure Imperial interests" (another memorable quote from Usotsuki Fuma). The Imperial forces supported the winning side and returned home victorious, cementing the country's loyalty to their new regime. Though Hanzaki hadn't fought in that war, he had seen for himself how the few skeptics of Orochimaru's reliability converted to believe in the Otokage.

Orochimaru continued to preach a fierce ideology of hatred, this time extending it to the various countries that had "abandoned" Rice Country and allowed it to suffer defeat. The Land of Fire was at the very top of his list of offenders. However, no outsider seemed to take notice of the affairs of the Empire, allowing Orochimaru's power to increase unchecked, and his vicious anti-kekkei genkai agenda to continue without foreign opposition or protest. From what he had heard from his friends in the Sound Village, there had been a few very close calls, where Orochimaru had run the risk of being identified as an S class criminal from Leaf. Fortunately for him, he was never identified or caught.

"Yeah, it's been a long road," Hanzaki eventually continued in agreement with Dekiagari. "This country's been through a lot. But we're a strong people. We recover. Sometimes, though, I wonder what the hell we were fighting for in the first war, the one we lost against Hot Springs and Kingin. It was a pointless mistake. I still don't understand why the public supported the daimyo when he did it. It was a chance to get recognized as a power worthy of the Great Shinobi Nations' attention, I guess… Fought long and hard, and look where it got us…"

"It doesn't matter now," Dekiagari said reassuringly, puffing on his cigarette merrily. "Now that Lord Otokage is running things, our military is powerful enough to rival any of the Great Shinobi Nations'. As a country, it seems we'll never have to fear military defeat ever again." Talking about the Empire's military strength seemed to have a calming effect for Dekiagari; his previous enraged persona had completely dissipated by now. On second thought, perhaps it was only because he was satisfying his nicotine addiction.

Hanzaki noted how he hadn't mentioned Orochimaru's persecution of bloodline limit carriers as a virtue. Did that mean he didn't approve of it either? He still decided that trying to get that topic out in the open would be foolish, and stuck to the subject.

"Major Roiyaru seems very enthusiastic about this as well," he commented. "Though I'm a bit puzzled as to why I've had an aide assigned to me…" The more he thought about it, the more he hated the idea. Aides were to follow their officers around weren't they? As likeable as Roiyaru seemed to be, it wouldn't be very pleasant to have the man following him around like a second shadow.

"Ah, yes…" said Dekiagari, scratching the tip of his sharp nose, a slightly embarrassed look on his face. He took a long drag from his cigarette before continuing, as if he were trying to come up with an excuse. "You see, Major Roiyaru didn't have anywhere to go. All command positions were filled, and yet I was to place him somewhere so that he could learn what it took to be a higher-level commander. He's seen a bit of action in the north, which got him promoted rather quickly. Now, he's been stationed with us, and you came along at the perfect moment for us to give him a position. Sorry if it seems a bit last minute, but… Well, you know how it is." Dekiagari shrugged.

"He's fought in the Land of Snow?" Hanzaki asked, curious about Dekiagari's statement concerning "northern action." Snow Country, along with being incredibly poor, had been the site of large and brutal civil war, eventually dragging multiple foreign powers into the conflict.

Sparked by a coup d'état, it pitted the Royalists, those who were against the regime change, against the Nationalist forces led by Doto Kazahana. Fire Country, bound by treaty, ordered the Leaf Village to send a team of shinobi to eliminate Doto and end the Nationalist uprising. The mission was a disaster, and the surviving Leaf ninjas quickly retreated. Fire eventually decided to quietly withdraw from the conflict, breaking their treaty and forcing the Royalist cause to take care of itself.

As the war dragged on and escalated, other nations saw the advantage of supporting the winning side. Any allied country of Snow would have access to the wondrous technology they produced and continuously improved; if one country were to steal an idea, Snow would only make a modified version of that invention and render the stolen goods worthless. The Empire of Sound and the Land of Wind both began to contribute to the Nationalists, sending men, warhawks, and money to aid them. The Land of Lightning (emerging from their own civil war under a new regime) contributed to the Royalists, putting the Great Shinobi Nations at odds.

The Kazekage and Orochimaru met for the first time during this period of time, forming the beginnings of a long-lasting alliance. The war was incredibly brutal, with many atrocities committed by both sides. The Royalists stumbled through a succession of leaders, weakening them. They claimed that the rightful heir to the throne was the assassinated daimyo's daughter, though she had gone missing and would have been far too young to lead them anyways. They eventually lost the initiative to the Nationalists, and were never able to recover. Doto went on to win the war with his allies, which had endless propaganda potential for the Empire to use.

The Royalists were smashed and reduced to mere pockets of guerrilla resistance, and Doto was kept firmly in power. Rumor had it that the rebels still searched for their princess, hoping that she would lead a new revolution and overthrow Doto. So far, that search had been fruitless.

Foreign intervention served a dual purpose for the Empire. By keeping Doto in power, they would continue to have access to the fantastic weapons Snow had to offer. In addition, serving in a real war sharpened the abilities of Sound soldiers, along with helping to refine strategic infantry doctrine. Unfortunately, due to the freezing temperatures, nin-snakes and nin-birds could not be used effectively, which left strategy concerning them unmodified. The invasion of Hot Springs would be their first real test.

"Yeah," said Dekiagari, answering Hanzaki's question and interrupting his thoughts. "Roiyaru served in Snow. I served there as well. Hated that place…" He took the cigarette out from between his lips and tapped it with his finger, dropping ash onto the dirty floor beneath. "How about you?" he inquired, replacing the cigarette and looking Hanzaki in the eye. "Did you fight in Snow, too?"

"No, sir," he replied, taking a deep breath of smoke-filled air. His throat rumbled violently as his lungs rejected the air, coughing it back up. Covering his mouth with the sleeve of his uniform, he waited a moment before continuing. "I didn't fight as a soldier during that period of time."

"Then what were you doing?" asked Dekiagari, interested. He leaned forward in his seat and rested his elbows on the desk before him. "What was your whole clan up to once the Treaty was signed? How did so many of you wind up being the Otokage's close friends?"

Hanzaki rubbed the back of his neck uneasily, struggling to draw out all the unpleasant memories of the past and deciding which parts Dekiagari didn't need to hear: his falling out with Arashi, the near war within the Fuma Clan, and his eventual desertion were all unnecessary, or could at least be fudged over. He began to wonder if Roiyaru had done the same with him, and censored parts out of his story. It would have explained his discomfort.

"The Fuma Clan pretty much stuck together after the armistice," Hanzaki began slowly, staying true to the facts. "We were sort of a halfway point between an independent militia and a mercenary organization, like the other 'independent corps' that sprang up after the disarmament. Being ninjas, we were able to accept missions from either the government or foreigners, which earned us our income. All ninja clans did this, and a few non-shinobi independent corps tried to do it, too. For the most part, ninjas were better off than ordinary civilians and non-shinobi militia members, which pretty much led the way towards prejudice against kekkei genkai carriers. You see, ninjas and ninja clans were strongly associated with bloodline limits.

"Without a hidden village to take refuge, all the ninja clans in the country were scattered and powerless. That included bloodline clans as well; no one was really better off than anyone else. We presented no united front. As a clan, we Fumas managed to take care of ourselves well enough. Arashi was the undisputed prodigy of our clan, and more-or-less our leader."

"_The _Arashi Fuma?" cut in Dekiagari, sounding very interested. "The current second-in-command of the Elite Guard? It's not just someone who shared his name?"

"No, sir," answered Hanzaki. "It was the same Arashi. As it turns out, he's the one who came up with the idea for those death camps… but that's another story. Anyway, before the creation of the Hidden Sound Village, we ninjas weren't of any special use to the country's military. The government had a devil of a time trying to locate and scrape together a sufficient force of ninjas to accomplish foreign missions, so they had to rely on the regulars instead. That didn't turn out too well…

"Our political influence was minimal before Orochimaru's arrival. We remained loyal to the government, unlike some other shinobi clans, but that didn't amount to much in the daimyo's eyes. I guess he just figured it was our duty to remain loyal to him, and he didn't acknowledge the fact that we supported him whenever someone tried to overthrow the government. After the Hidden Sound Village came into existence, Orochimaru began organizing the hierarchy for the Elite Guard, placing his lieutenant Kabuto Yakushi as the overall commander." Hanzaki didn't notice the slightly inappropriate use of the term "lieutenant." Though Kabuto was one of Orochimaru's most trusted subordinates, his official rank would have been much higher than that of a lowly platoon commander. Hanzaki went on with his story.

"Of course, any bloodline clans that tried to join up were immediately turned away. Even then, the prejudice was there. The Fuma Clan seemed to become Orochimaru's favorite, since we took up the most important positions. Arashi rose to become the leader the intelligence division of the Elite Guard. Supposedly, it was Kabuto who saw the potential in him, and appointed him the position.

"Only ninjas were allowed to join, and they had to prove that their ancestry wasn't tainted by any bloodline limits. I didn't stick around much longer after that. I severed ties with the Sound Village and the rest of the Elite Guard, and along with a few other Fuma Clan members, set out making a living my own way."

Hanzaki didn't bother to mention that his own way of making an income was opening a strip club and occasionally stealing from a rich drunk who couldn't defend himself. As much of a disgrace as it was, it couldn't compare with Orochimaru's unimaginable evil. Taking another deep breath, he continued with his story.

"Orochimaru eventually assumed total control over the country. I think you know the rest… The fire, the decrees, the Elite Guard being used as a secret police… Not long after that, I received a message from Arashi. He was still powerful in the Elite Guard, which had grown to an impressive size in a short time. He asked me if I was willing to come back, and I told him no. I didn't want anything to do with the slaughters going on, and I was happy with the small business I had set up anyway. After more time passed, I received another message from him, with the same question. I still didn't want to be a member of the Elite Guard, but I decided that I sort of missed my old days as a soldier. I agreed to come back and join the Army, where he got me the position of a colonel. I left a friend of mine behind running the shop just in case. He's still there, in fact, making sure it doesn't go out of business."

"What kind of shop had you opened up?" Dekiagari asked curiously, puffing on the cigarette once again.

"I, uh… ah, tea," Hanzaki stammered, remembering Roiyaru's comment about his parents owning a teashop. He certainly didn't want to tell the truth here; it would be shameful and embarrassing. "I sold all sorts of tea. Made a lot of money."

"Really? I'll have to see it some time."

"Right."

Dekiagari coughed and began ruffling through the papers on his desk, eventually extracting a single document. He quickly handed it to Hanzaki, who saw that a lot of information had been cramped onto the sheet. His name was written on the top, and a dizzying array of numbers, addresses, and locations were typed below it.

"That has all the information you'll need to know," Dekiagari explained, getting down to business. "Your regiment's location, where you'll be staying, channels of communication… That sort of thing. I'm afraid that I'm a bit swamped at the moment and can't help you out. Major Roiyaru ought to be able to assist you with any problems you face. Well, it's been a pleasure to meet you, Colonel Fuma, but I really must get back to work. Doubtless, someone is going to be calling me, trying to inform me of some new problem…"

The phone suddenly rang, and Dekiagari glared down at it. Setting his smoldering cigarette down to rest in a small ashtray, he sighed heavily and waved his hand in dismissal, signaling for Hanzaki to leave. He quickly obeyed, exiting the messy, smoke-filled office and shutting the door behind him. Dekiagari's irritated voice could be heard as he conversed with the latest caller.

Hanzaki tucked the paper into one of his pockets and headed back to the lounge to look for Roiyaru. Everything seemed too quiet to be normal, especially after the endless din of noise from earlier. The air felt fresher, and he no longer felt like he was burning up under his clothes; perhaps someone had opened a few windows.

All in all, he decided that the introduction had gone well. He got a favorable impression of Dekiagari, and figured it would be fine to serve under him. The general looked like he knew what he was doing. On top of that, learning about Roiyaru's experiences in Snow Country would probably make for interesting conversations later on, which kept him from wanting to find some way to get rid of him. He had never even been to the mysterious Land of Snow, and he was very curious as to what it was like. Were the weapons they created there as fantastic as he was led to believe?

Making his way into the lounge room he had left Roiyaru, he saw that many of the room's occupants were still crowded around the small television, while others were talking to themselves in low voices. What the hell was going on here? He could hear a female voice emanating from the glowing television screen, though he couldn't quite make out anything being said. Locating Roiyaru. He quickly walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. The major quickly turned around to look, snapping to attention when he saw it was his superior. His face looked slightly pale, though it might have just been a trick of the light.

"What's going on here?" Hanzaki asked him. "What's so interesting on the news that everyone's watching it?" Roiyaru visibly gulped, as if the news were something either personally affecting or deeply important on an international level.

"I suggest you take a good look, sir," he whispered, pointing at the television. "I'm sure it will explain it better than I can…" Hanzaki leaned forward and squinted, waiting for his vision to adjust to focus on the bright screen. He concentrated on what the reporter was saying, letting her words drown out all of the other noises in the room.

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"The Wind Lord has been assassinated!" Hanabi said, running into the Hyuga Estate's vast library. It was dark out now, with moonlight shining through the large windows of the estate. "It's all over the news! He was assassinated earlier today! We were out all day training, so we didn't hear about what happened!"

"That's nice," Hinata murmured absently. An elderly servant beside her, she scanned the many shelves of scrolls and books, looking for one title in particular. After supper, she had decided to pay a visit to the Estate's library, and had been there ever since.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Hanabi asked her, incredulous. "The Wind Lord was murdered today! He's dead! There might be a war over this!"

"I don't see what you're so worked up about, Hanabi," Hinata said, slightly annoyed about the interruption. "This has nothing to do with us…"

"But still, this is major news!" said Hanabi, incredulous about Hinata's complete lack of interest. Her older sister acted as if she hadn't heard her, leaning towards one of the scrolls to look at it in detail. Realizing that Hinata couldn't be swayed to care about this development, she sighed in exasperation. "What are you looking for, anyway?"

"What was the title again?" Hinata asked, turning to the servant. It had somehow slipped her mind.

"_The Greatest Element_, My Lady" the elderly woman replied. Short and thin, she wore spectacles and kept her white hair tied up into a tight bun. "It's been quite a while since I've needed to find it…but it should be right in this section…" She bent her back to inspect the shelves more closely.

"_The Greatest_… What?" Hanabi asked, confused.

"It's not important," Hinata replied. "Just a story we're looking for."

"What do you mean?" her sister asked. "If it's 'just some story' then why do you want to see it?"

"Remember how you mentioned about how old that…uh, thing was?" Hinata asked, giving the librarian a sidelong glance. "It got me curious about clan history, so I came in here to see if there were any books on it. The librarian told me that there was an old story in here I might be interested in."

"…Oh," said Hanabi, reaching up to scratch her head. "Okay then."

"Aha!" cried out the servant triumphantly, pulling out a dusty scroll from the shelf. "I knew it would be here!" She blew on it, sending the dust scattering throughout the air and making Hinata's nose itch. The woman unrolled the scroll and looked at it fondly. "Of course, this is just a copy of the original document, but you should still be careful with it. I don't think your father would be very pleased if you tore it and we had to order another one."

Hinata nodded and gently took the scroll as it was handed to her. She took one look at the first line and stopped, perplexed. It was worded strangely, very different from any of the novels she had ever cracked open. The servant saw the look in her eyes and grinned.

"It's written funny, isn't it?" she asked. Hinata nodded, struggling to decipher the meaning of the words without getting confused.

"This, uh… This story will tell me about the clan's history?" she asked uncertainly.

"Well…sort of," the woman replied slowly. "It depends on who you ask. There's some dispute about whether the Hyuga Clan is actually involved with the story. Most people who read it think that they are, though."

"…Dispute?" asked Hinata. "What do you mean?"

"There's a considerable amount of debate about how much of this story should be believed," the servant answered. "There are several things that you ought to understand about this story before you read it. The first being the historical context. The events in this story supposedly occurred over a thousand years ago, when this country was divided into a few independent kingdoms… Would you happen to be familiar with the period?"

Hinata shook her head, and the servant grinned slightly, pleased at the opportunity to display her knowledge.

"There isn't very much that we can say for certain, but we have a general idea of what happened. The kingdoms that divided the territory of what is now known as the Land of Fire had decided that there was much to gain from banding together under a single banner. Divided they were individually powerful, but collectively, they would form an unstoppable empire. Of course, deciding who would be in charge of this new kingdom wasn't something they had an easy time agreeing on, and there are various stories about how they supposedly resolved the issue. But relations between the kingdoms were very amiable, what with all the blood ties that came with kings and feudal lords marrying off their daughters as a form of diplomacy.

"There was one particular king who saw what was happening and wasn't very happy about it. And so he mustered the biggest army he could and declared war against these kingdoms. Again, there are various stories about what exactly motivated him to do this, but we can say with certainty that this war really did occur.

"This story is a…_highly_ romanticized retelling of what what was supposedly the greatest battle of the entire war. According to the storyteller, the alliance's forces had been taking a beating, and their army was on the verge of collapse. The remaining troops gathered to make a final stand, and wound up being spared from defeat by…some rather impressive friends."

"You don't believe any of this is true?" Hanabi asked the servant, catching her tone.

"Well, parts of it probably are," she answered, frowning slightly. "At least, evidence seems to point that way. However, the other important thing to note about this story is that it was written sometime during or after the Reconquest…many centuries after the events of this story purportedly occurred. Numerous things in the story are contradicted by existing evidence; for example, the alliance was simply not losing the war as badly as the story implies, this 'last stand' was more than likely just the alliance defending an important strategic position, and the alliance's victory didn't immediately result in the end of the war. It can't be considered an accurate retelling by any stretch of imagination."

Curiosity getting the better of her, Hanabi walked over to stand next to Hinata, craning her neck to look at the scroll in her hands. Her eyes widened when she read the text, and the elderly servant nodded knowingly.

"The writing's not something most people in this day and age are used to. Since the person who wrote it is unknown, people today often believe it to be the work of a Far Western missionary with a good imagination."

"Why would some foreign missionary want to write something like this?" asked Hanabi, perplexed. The servant shrugged her shoulders.

"Maybe he was just bored, and was inspired when he heard about the historical battle to write about it. Another likely explanation is that he created it as a tool to draw many of the people living in this country to convert, attracting us with a thrilling tale about our own heritage and mixing in themes from his religion. Like I said though, we don't even know if this was written by a missionary at all, it's just a strong possibility."

"So…this story would just be a waste of time to read?" Hanabi asked. "I mean, besides the mention of the war and the battle, everything else is just nonsense?"

"I don't know if I'd go so far as to say that," the librarian said, laughing lightly. "It _is_ an interesting story, at least."

"How does this have anything to do with the Hyuga Clan?" Hinata asked skeptically. "This war you're talking about, it doesn't…"

"It's a bit hard to explain," the servant answered. "Shinobi weren't exactly as numerous back then as they are today, making their appearance in this story sort of a 'big deal.' This battle occurred in an age when most people weren't aware that chakra even existed. Some believe that _no one_ knew anything about chakra until the Sage of Six Paths appeared and taught people how to use it. Others believe that there were small communities living in seclusion that explored the nature of chakra and ways to manipulate it, and that the Sage came from one of these. And of course, some say that the Sage never existed in the first place."

"Then…wouldn't it be impossible for the Hyuga Clan to have existed back then, let alone be identified?" asked Hinata. The more she was informed about this story, the more she was beginning to suspect that it was worthless and wouldn't tell her anything.

"Just read it, My Lady, and it'll be easy enough to see why some people make the connection." For once, it seemed that the old servant had no clear explanations for her.

Hinata sighed and began to read the scroll, lowering it enough for Hanabi to get a good look at it and follow along with her. Hinata began to murmur the words out loud, in the hope that it would help her understand the full meaning of the passage:

"_The Greatest Element_

"_In the millennium of great wars, when the vast deserts of the South were dominated by tribes of nomads who dwelled within the sandy dunes, when the great islands of the East were under the control of various seafaring peoples, when the virgin forests of the West swallowed any marching armies without remorse, when the freezing steppes of the North brought death and starvation to all but the hardiest of its inhabitants, no nations stood out so much as the glorious Alliance of Fire, gifted and privileged beyond measure by the Almighty Shaper of the world. Located in the hospitable center of the landmass, a lone outpost of reason and civilization surrounded by savage kingdoms of madness and ruthless ambition, it was the land filled with many heroes and scholars. However, in that great age, there were no people in all the world quite like the legendary Fire Warriors, the glorious saviors of the Nation of Fire._

"_Though the Great Kingdoms of Fire was gentle and peaceful, her people were not afraid to take up arms and fight. Inspiring great envy and fury from the smaller nations, the Kingdoms of Fire marched to many wars against their barbaric neighbors, always returning home victorious with many prisoners to be ransomed and carriages brimming with gold and silver._

"_At the Alliance's zenith, it was decided that the many kingdoms were to unite as one great nation and become an Empire. The many rival nations saw this and trembled at the threat this Empire would present to them._

"_The leader of the great Northern Kingdom saw the proceedings and knew that now was his only time to strike. If he did not stop them now, he would never get such an opportunity again in his lifetime. The Alliance of Fire had defeated his proud nation in the past, when his mighty hubris led him to attempt to conquer the nearly invincible kingdoms. Now would be his chance for vengeance. He raised an army with more soldiers than there were grains of sand on the beaches, with shining chariots, hard shields, heavy armor, and sharp blades. The earth quaked as they marched on the warpath as a result of their great numbers. They moved like lightning against the Alliance of Fire during her time of unpreparedness, and landed a crippling blow._

"_Their powerful enemy fought with a rage. They were fueled by their hatred, and thus were the army of darkness and shadow. Mortal understanding of the world did not allow them to realize that as long as they fought with hatred flowing through their veins like acid, victory was certain to elude their grasp. The soldiers of Fire were infinitely stronger, given purpose by love and courage._

"_Even so, the Northern Kingdom had made its assault a strike too powerful to easily stop. The factions had united too late to stop the dark army in time. The valiant soldiers of the Kingdoms of Fire were brave, but they were quickly driven out of their native lands, leaving a trail of blood as they retreated farther and farther back, leaving a stain on the earth. With her strength depleted, the kingdoms were forced to make a final stand against the Northerners on the plains that lay before the capital city of her greatest kingdom. The two sides threw every man and weapon they could into this battle. The once mighty Alliance was now heavily outnumbered, as the invaders collected mercenaries during the ferocious drive to boost their ranks, while the Kingdoms of Fire had not a single outside ally to turn to._

"_The two mighty armies clashed in the most spectacular battle ever seen: One of incredible sacrifice, strong wills, and indomitable courage. Swords flashed and spears lunged; catapults flung their fiery projectiles, arrows arced through the air in deadly paths, horses trampled their foes. Never before had the soldiers of the Alliance of Fire fought so valiantly, and each gain made by the Northerners cost them dearly. Morning gave way to noon; noon gave way to dusk. As the sun retreated behind the mountains, the tide of battle began to turn against the courageous Fire soldiers. _

"_But victory was not destined to fall to those who fought for the cause of vengeance. Out of the horizon flew great eagles, with swooping wings and fierce eyes. They carried on their backs people, and the battle nearly stopped as both sides stared at them in awe. The eagles landed to the earth, dropping their handlers._

"_'Who are you?' both sides challenged the strangers. 'Where do you get the authority to interrupt this battle?' 'Behold!' answered the strangers. 'It is we, the Clan of the Sun, we who wield fire, the greatest of all elements. We, who possess the divine and inescapable eyes!'_

"_'Praise the heavens!' cheered the soldiers of Fire. 'We have not been abandoned! Victory is still to be ours!' The new soldiers from the Clan of the Sun entered the battle, bringing chaos and destruction to the spiteful enemy, those who doubted their power. Their strength was vastly disproportionate to their numbers, and the enemy paid dearly for underestimating them. They shot hot flames from their fingertips, killing all they struck. Just as they had promised, nothing escaped their divine eyes. No enemy could lay a single blow on them, and their fiery hands shot straight through the clanking and cumbersome armor of the Northerners._

"_The enemy ranks broke and were slaughtered; enemy chariots had their wheels burned off in the intense blazes; the multitude of wooden catapults were easily destroyed and their crews slain; the tide of the battle had turned once again. The Northerners fled with haste, throwing their weapons and shields to the ground so as to run even faster. They flew from the lands, defeated. The battle had been won, and the glorious Kingdoms of Fire had been saved._

"_The Northerners were henceforth cursed to never win again in battle, until they cleansed themselves of the foul hate polluting their spirits. As long as they continued to forsake the message of peace, as long as their hearts and minds were malleable enough to be manipulated into a rage, they would not achieve victory against those who fought for a true purpose. _

"_'Praise be to the Sun Clan!' cheered the soldiers of the victorious Alliance of Fire. 'They have brought us this great victory!' The leader of the Clan of the Sun stepped forward, staring out toward the setting sun._

"_'We give our fire to you now, to be shared, to fill your spirits and fuel your strength!' he declared. 'The great Will of Fire shall become known in every corner of the world! Never shall this nation have to face defeat, for we will never abandon you!' 'Abandon us!' scoffed the people of Fire. 'We are brothers to each other now! You are one with our people!' Then the people of the Kingdoms of Fire surged forward and raised the people of the Sun Clan on their shoulders, the revered Fire Warriors. 'Long may the reign of the Clan of the Sun last! Forever will we remember the acts you committed to help us! Forever may we be graced by the presence of these courageous Warriors of Fire!'_"

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**Quote of the Day:**

"I have no scruples. What is good, we take advantage of. What is bad, we hide."

- Brazilian Finance Minister Rubens Ricupero, talking during a break in a television interview, unaware that his microphone was still on and the satellite feed was still running, allowing viewers all over the country to hear him


	27. To the Limit

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 27: To the Limit_

Despite the fact that Hanzaki had arrived at Naikatie sometime late at night, he had little trouble waking up at his usual time the following morning. Having been given a modest hotel room in a small corner of the city as a place to sleep, he had decided the previous night that he wanted to get to the field and see his men at the earliest convenience, despite the fact that he didn't really know his way around. The sun had yet to rise as he climbed out of bed and put on his uniform. Upon making sure that his attire was complete, he wandered to the cafeteria to grab something to eat, only to find that it was too early and hadn't opened yet.

Sighing, he stepped outside in search of a diner where he could get breakfast. It might have been possible to get his hands on some military rations, but he was determined to get himself some real food. In the back of his mind he knew that the sooner he got used to lousy meals the better off he'd be, but years of pampered living in the city made him unwilling to give up old habits voluntarily.

Walking through the town, he noted that the streets had been cleaned up of both garbage and drunks from the night before. Either all the men had been soldiers taking the day off, or the police force in the city was incredibly effective. Hanzaki couldn't tell which was more likely; possibly it was a combination of the two. Taking a deep breath of the morning air, he noted that it smelled faintly dirtier than Imperial City, which was odd considering that Naikatie was much smaller. After a moment's contemplation, he realized that it was probably due to all the nearby industry, such as weapons foundries, polluting the air. Imperial City didn't have any foundries to send smoke into the air and affect the overall air quality. With a shrug, Hanzaki continued down the street. The morning was the time of day he enjoyed most, good air or bad.

He was stuck exploring the city for almost half an hour before he found an open restaurant; by that time his stomach had begun to growl most uncomfortably. At least now he had a better idea of how to make his way around the city. Making his way inside, the waitress by the entrance looked at him in surprise. Seeing his uniform, she quickly got him a seat in the empty establishment. "Did I get here too early or something?" he asked, wondering if it was before opening hours.

"Not at all," the waitress told him. "You're just the first customer, is all." Hanzaki didn't think he'd woken up that early. Perhaps everyone in town was sleeping in. As soon as he took a seat at his table, she pulled out a notebook and pencil. "What can I get for ya?"

Never given the chance to look at a menu, Hanzaki decided to try his luck and see if this restaurant carried the same dish that had been his favorite from the diner near his home in Imperial City. "Do you guys serve waffles here?" he asked.

"Certainly," the waitress answered, jotting it down—Hanzaki noticed that she licked the tip of her pencil before writing, a habit he had never understood.

"If it's not too much to ask, could you cover it with strawberry sauce and whipped cream?" he went on, knowing the order by heart. He hoped that this place could prepare food the same way his favorite diner did.

"No problem," she told him, grinning. "Anything to drink?"

"A tall glass of milk, please," he replied. The waitress nodded, pocketed the notebook, and left for the kitchen. Waiting for his order to arrive, Hanzaki pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket, going over the information from Dekiagari he had written on it the night before. A multitude of names, locations, and miscellaneous descriptions filled up the note, but one word had been written larger and bolder than the rest: Gentaru.

Gentaru was the man in command of the 21st Regiment, or at least had been before Arashi had assigned Hanzaki to that position. Whether Gentaru had heard the news yet, Hanzaki had no idea. Going over various bits and making an effort to memorize them, he finally replaced the slip of paper in his pocket when the waitress returned with his breakfast. The smell of the warm food was enough to make him forget about everything else, and he immediately dug in. This dish was his guilty pleasure, and to his delight, he found that they made it much the same way they had back home. Such was his focus on eating that he failed to notice when someone else entered the restaurant, took a quick look around, then moved towards his table.

"Colonel Fuma?" the newcomer asked, surprising him. Turning swiftly to look, he saw that it was none other than Roiyaru. Hanzaki swallowed his mouthful of food and wiped some strawberry sauce from his lips.

"Ah, yes Major, what can I do for you?" he asked. He reached for his glass and took a swig. Roiyaru took a seat in the chair opposite to him. He looked as if he'd thrown his uniform on in a hurry; there were dark circles under his eyes.

"You weren't in your room when I got there this morning," he said; there was a hint of annoyance in his voice, as if Hanzaki had failed to keep up his end of a bargain between the two of them.

"I always get up at the crack of dawn," he replied. "That's just what I'm used to. I rather like the morning."

"Well, yes," Roiyaru said, shifting in his seat. "But it's my job to make sure that everything you require is carried out."

"I can take care of myself just fine," Hanzaki replied. He stabbed a slice of waffle with his fork, sliding it around on his plate to drench it in strawberry sauce. "I suppose your job requires you to eat breakfast for me?"

"Of course not, sir. I just need to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible for you, especially since you've just arrived and have a lot to be introduced to." The waitress approached their table, having just noticed that someone else had entered the restaurant. Whoever was assigned to wait by the door had presumably not arrived yet.

"Anything I can get for you, hon?" she asked Roiyaru. He blinked and looked up at her.

"Sure, why not," he finally answered. "I'll have an omelet. You guys make those?"

The waitress laughed. "We'd be a bad place to come for breakfast if we didn't."

Roiyaru gave a sheepish grin. "All right. I'll have some orange juice to go with it, too."

"Sure thing. Just sit tight." The waitress disappeared into the kitchen once again.

Finishing another bite, Hanzaki pulled out the slip of paper again, unfolding it and handing it to Roiyaru. "If you want to be a big help, you'll take me to this Gentaru fellow," he said. "He should be a big help in telling me what's what with the 21st."

The major stared at the paper, studying the various notes scrawled on its face. "From what I hear," he said, "this Gentaru isn't a…nice guy. Might get pretty mad if you wind up being the first person to tell him he won't be the 21st's commander anymore. I sort of doubt that'd be the case, though, and I don't remember anyone mentioning that he gives his superiors any trouble."

"Know anything else about him?"

Roiyaru shrugged. "Not a whole lot. I only recognized his name because I overheard a few guys talking about some discipline trouble with the 21st, and that the commander cracked down on it pretty hard. He has some sort of history of this, judging by how long they were talking about him."

"And that's all you heard?" Hanzaki inquired.

"Pretty much, yeah." Roiyaru scratched his chin. "I'm pretty sure I know where we'd be able to see him. It shouldn't be too hard to find him."

"That's good," Hanzaki said. "The less time gets wasted by showing me around, the better." He took another bite and swallowed before continuing. "Do you know very much about the 21st?"

"I'm afraid not, sir. I'm sure you know more about them than I do."

Hanzaki shook his head. "Nobody's told me anything about anything," he said. "No one in Imperial City told me a single detail other than the fact that I'd be in command of a regiment once I got here. When I got here, no one told me anything other than which regiment it was."

Roiyaru laughed. "I suppose that puts us in the same boat. No one had told me anything other than the fact that I'd be an aide for some colonel, and when I got here, they told me who that colonel would be and gave me a physical description."

"With Daybreak approaching, everything's rushed and chaotic," Hanzaki grunted. "I really have my doubts that anyone has any idea what's going on or what they're supposed to be doing." Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to his plate and finished what remained of his breakfast.

The waitress returned, carrying Roiyaru's order. "Careful, it's hot," she warned, laying the plate and glass on the table. Taking no heed of her warning, the major wasted no time in digging in, cramming a large chunk of the steaming omelet into his mouth. It seemed that he hadn't eaten in a while; perhaps he had missed dinner the night before.

The waitress turned to leave, but Hanzaki suddenly reached out and tapped her on the elbow. "Ma'am, if it isn't too much trouble, can I get another order of these waffles?"

Her face splitting into a wide grin, she nodded and returned to the kitchen yet again. He wondered if she had been making all of these orders herself. If so, she was an excellent cook. Taking his note back from Roiyaru and putting it away, he leaned back in his seat and waited for his second helping to arrive. There would be a lot to get done today, and he'd need a full stomach.

88888888

The news of the Wind Lord's assassination had only reached the ears of the media the night before, but already it was front page news for every single newspaper and the primary story for every news channel. They must have all scrapped what they'd previously planned to make room for the story; none of them could possibly have had enough room or time left over to simply add the news to everything else they already had. However, the speed of reporting had its consequences. Even as every news outlet flashed the story, consistency was nowhere to be found. Comparing any two reports and finding a single similarity was nearly a miracle.

Several papers claimed that the Wind Lord had been slain in a coup, but the killers varied between the Sand Village, the military, and the lord's relatives. Other papers reported that he'd been slain by other entities, ranging from political activists, religious extremists, separatists, and foreign mercenaries.

The lord's cause of death was another area that seemed impossible to verify. So far, it had been reported that he'd been killed by a bomb, been shot from afar by a bow, had his lunch poisoned, and been stabbed in his sleep. The most fantastical story said that a large fight had broken out between a pack of assassins and the lord's bodyguards, resulting in the leader being killed in the confusion. It had gone so far as to insinuate that a civil war was imminent.

With facts so hard to come across, Sarutobi had finally settled on buying a newspaper that didn't claim to verify anything, and instead conceded that it was hard to tell what was going on with so many conflicting reports. He would rather stay uninformed than be misinformed by another source. He pondered what effects the incident would have on the Chunin Exams. The Kazekage was supposed to arrive, but the trip might be canceled if there was trouble at home. At least the finals were about a month away. They might be able to fix up the mess in that time and proceed with the ceremonies as scheduled.

Sarutobi made a mental note to give the Kazekage a call when it was convenient and have everything sorted out. He reached for a glass of tea at his desk when a loud knock at the door interrupted him. He hadn't scheduled any appointments to be seen, but he wasn't too busy to talk with whoever was there.

He quickly put on his decorative headdress and turned to the door of his office, not wanting to be caught out of his normal attire by a visitor. "Who is it?" he asked. The door opened, revealing Anko Mitarashi on the other side.

"There's a couple of people here who would like to see you, Lord Hokage," she told him, a smirk playing at her lips.

"Yes, send them in," replied Sarutobi, turning around to turn off the television screen behind him. Anko nodded and left the doorway, only to return a moment later with the two visitors. Might Guy strode in happily, a scowling Naruto in tow. The reasons for his unhappiness were not immediately apparent, until Anko smiled widely and flicked his ear, making him clamp down on it as he sent her a death glare. Her grin grew even wider, and she left the office, closing the door behind her. Sarutobi wondered how long Anko had harassed him before deciding to let them in.

"Please excuse her," he said to them. "She's, well… Anko. She can act very childish sometimes, but she doesn't mean any harm."

"It's no problem at all, Lord Hokage," Guy said, grinning and carefree as usual. Naruto, his arms moodily folded across his chest, did not look so forgiving.

"So, what can I help you two with this morning?" the Hokage asked. He wondered why the two were together; he'd figured that Kakashi would be training Naruto, and Guy would be with Neji.

"Well Lord Hokage, I have been entrusted with training Naruto and preparing him for the finals. Kakashi, unfortunately, did not believe he was the proper candidate to train his own pupil, and Neji did not require my assistance. Naruto will need all the help he can get for his bout, too." Guy leaned in towards Sarutobi, a serious look on his face and his voice low, as if he were revealing a great secret. "He's fighting Sasuke Uchiha, you know."

"Yes, so what exactly can I do for you?" he asked, barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well, Naruto and I ran into some problems when I was attempting to teach him how to walk over water. His chakra control was very unstable, to the point that I suspect some form of outside interference."

"Outside interference?" Sarutobi asked, brow raised. "What are you talking about?"

"Show him, Naruto," Guy said to the Genin. "Take off your shirt and concentrate your chakra." Naruto, who still had his arms crossed angrily, sighed and nodded. He went through the routine of unzipping his jacket and pulling his shirt up, revealing his bare abdomen. As Guy and Sarutobi looked on, Naruto folded his hands and concentrated his chakra. After several seconds, the dark seal on his navel appeared, allowing the two men to see its layers.

It was with some surprise that the Hokage noticed the addition to the original seal. Once its implications sunk in, however, surprise quickly turned into alarm.

_It seems Orochimaru targeted more than just this year's bloodline carriers._

"Do you see what I mean, Lord Hokage?" Guy asked, interrupting his thoughts. "This is clearly the work of a Sannin!"

"Clearly."

"What's a Sannin?" Naruto asked, confused. He let his shirt drop down again. Guy opened his mouth to answer, but Sarutobi cut him off.

"One of my former pupils," he said simply. "There are three of them."

"Oh. Okay." Naruto apparently remembered something from earlier. "Why would Guy-sensei ask me if I had run into one of your old students then?"

"Because you have," Sarutobi answered. "Only a Sannin could perform the sealing jutsu that was done on you."

"No one's done any sealing jutsu on me," Naruto said, confused. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"No, this is not a joke," Sarutobi told him. "But it seems odd that you would fail to remember if a sealing jutsu were performed on you."

"Perhaps it happened in the heat of battle?" Guy pitched in. "I often go into a battle frenzy myself and can't remember what happened."

Surprisingly, what Guy said actually made sense. Naruto was vulnerable to a very special type of battle frenzy, where it was entirely plausible that he would forget anything that happened to him.

"You may be right," Sarutobi murmured out loud. He turned his attention back to the Genin. "Naruto, do you recall releasing any sort of special chakra during your time in the forest?"

"…Special chakra?"

"Yes. Anything different from your normal energy. Different color, different feel, anything."

Naruto squinted and rubbed his chin, trying to remember. After a moment his eyes widened slightly. "Well, there was this guy I fought. He wrapped his tongue around me or something… I can hardly remember… It's like it was a dream, but I'm pretty sure it actually happened. I think my chakra had gone weird then."

Sarutobi nodded, his suspicions confirmed beyond all doubt. Along with that, it seemed that Naruto was getting a slight grasp on controlling the fox's energy, or else was more capable of keeping his mind when the fox emerged. If he didn't, he probably wouldn't have been able to remember anything at all.

Sarutobi pulled Guy aside as Naruto watched them curiously. "I believe it's time Naruto learned how to call upon the fox's power," he said quietly. "His experience in the forest would make it the second time the demon's chakra emerged."

"How exactly would I go about training him how to summon the fox's chakra?" Guy asked, confused.

"He needs to be in a life-or-death situation for the chakra to emerge. You'll have to engineer a scenario where the fox's sense of self-preservation would cause it to take over. That will most likely happen if Naruto's ordinary chakra reserves are low."

"How do you propose I lower his chakra levels? He never seems to run out."

"Teach him a new ninjutsu," Sarutobi said simply. "Something difficult, like summoning. That should be rigorous enough to leave him exhausted." Guy's face brightened.

"I could teach him how to summon tortoises!" he said excitedly. "They make excellent companions."

"…That's a nice idea, but I don't believe that Naruto is suited for tortoises, Guy. I think toads are more fitting."

"Where would I find a toad summoning scroll?" asked Guy, doing his best to hide his disappointment.

"Jiraiya's back in town. Seek him out to get the scroll. It shouldn't be too difficult to guess where he's frequenting."

"Ah, of course! I shall find him." Guy turned to leave, then remembered something. "Lord Hokage? What about the seal placed on Naruto?"

"Yes, certainly," Sarutobi replied. He'd somehow almost forgotten to remove it. He turned to face the Genin. "Naruto, lift up your shirt again for me, will you?" He gathered chakra into his fingers as the boy did so. "Now keep it up. This will only sting a little."

88888888

Pacing back and forth in the waiting room of the Konoha Military Police Station, it was all Yugao Uzuki could do to keep from flying into a rage. There were a number of other visitors in the waiting room sitting patiently; the few not in possession of a newspaper gave her odd looks. She took no notice of them. It had already been twenty-four hours since the body of Hayate—her Hayate—had been discovered on an apartment house roof. Twenty-four hours, and not a single word on what the investigation had revealed. Nobody wanted this incident to get out, seeing as the village would soon be filled with dozens of important foreign guests, and they didn't want rumors of a murderer on the loose to ruin the event and sully Konoha's good name.

But dammit, there was a murderer on the loose! Judging by the way the police had been handling the situation so far, they believed that if they just kept the entire thing under wraps then the problem would resolve itself. Giving the crime scene a token search, they rushed the body to the police station and cleaned the roof, wiping away any trace that a man had been murdered there. Whatever evidence that had not been discovered in the initial search was now surely destroyed.

By now, Yugao had fully convinced herself that the police were deliberately ruining their own investigation. If they didn't want the news that a killer was in the village getting out, then they wouldn't want news of an arrest getting out either. Better to just keep the entire thing hushed up, turn every possible lead into a dead end, and hope that the killer just left the village in peace. Balling her hands into tight fists, she growled in frustration.

If she weren't an ANBU, she likely wouldn't have heard that Hayate had been killed—had she inquired as to why he was missing, they probably would have fed her some story about how he had been abruptly sent on an emergency secret mission. Her ability to arrange a meeting with the man in charge of the murder investigation was another thing that she owed to her ANBU status—whether the man had been sympathetic and decided to see her because of her closeness to Hayate was not something she had considered.

Too preoccupied to keep track of time, Yugao was not certain how long she had been stuck waiting. Others nearby had already been called in and left, and more visitors had arrived to take their places. At last, a door opened and a uniformed MP entered the waiting room; taking a quick look around, his eyes landed on her, and he beckoned for her to approach. With red fang tattoos on his cheeks and eyes vaguely animalistic in appearance, it seemed that the officer in charge of the investigation had come to greet her himself—she could remember that it was an Inuzuka, though his given name had slipped her mind. Holding the door open for her with one hand, he extended his free hand to shake.

"Miss Uzuki?" he inquired.

"Yes," she answered, taking his hand in her own and giving a brief shake. She was able to keep her voice calm and her face free of anger; returning his smile was something she couldn't manage.

"Pleased to meet you," he said, releasing her hand. "Biko Inuzuka, at your service." Gesturing, he pointed her down a narrow hallway that led out of the lobby and into his office. Passing a number of other offices along the way, it seemed that virtually everyone was busy. Keeping the village nice and orderly in anticipation of the arriving dignitaries was no doubt a lot of work.

_Especially when there's a murder to cover up_, she thought bitterly. Opening the door to his office, Biko allowed her inside before entering himself and shutting the door behind him. A large dog with spiky black hair was lying on its side next to the desk, asleep. At the sound of the door closing, it woke and looked up to see who had disturbed its slumber. Biko moved to the seat behind his desk, giving the dog a scratch behind the ears as he passed by.

"Say hello, Kosho," he said. The dog stared at Yugao for a moment with disinterest, then lied back down. In a few moments it had fallen asleep once more.

Biko chuckled. "She's like that," he said. "Unless you've got some food with you, she doesn't care who you are or what you want, she'll just ignore you. She makes for a lousy guard dog, I can tell you that much."

"I can imagine," Yugao replied. Biko motioned for her to take a seat in the chair in front of his desk, and she did so. Sitting down in his swivel chair, he leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk. She saw that it was extraordinarily tidy, with papers kept in a neat stack, writing utensils kept in a jar, and various other items arranged with care; a proper place for everything, and everything in its proper place.

"So what is it I can help you with exactly, Miss Uzuki?" he asked.

"I'm here regarding the investigation of Hayate Gekko's murder," she replied, folding her arms across her chest. "It has already been a full day since his body was found, but I have not heard about anything in the way of progress towards uncovering who is responsible."

Biko sighed heavily. "Miss Uzuki, these sorts of things take time. It seems that you believe that the killer should have been apprehended by now, but that's simply not possible. We had very few leads to begin with, and with all the…restrictions imposed on us, it has been extraordinarily difficult to follow them very far."

"Maybe you'd have had more if you hadn't scrubbed that roof cleaner than the Fire Lord's kitchen," Yugao snarled, snapping and losing her composure. "I know exactly how you've been conducting your investigation, and _I am in mood for excuses_," she finished with a hiss.

Biko blinked. "Have you ever set foot in the Fire Lord's kitchen? I think you'd be surprised at how filthy they keep it. It's really no wonder that the man's health is so poor." Yugao felt her face flush in anger; seeing her reaction, Biko quickly continued. "I'm aware that the two of you had a very intimate relationship. You were very close. You're upset, and I can understand that. I would be too if I lost someone so important to me."

"How dare you talk down to me—"

He held up a hand to stop her. "Miss Uzuki, I mean no offense. I'm in no position to talk down to you or to claim that I know what you're feeling. Hayate was not a personal friend of mine, but that doesn't make me any less determined to solve this case. His loss is a tragedy, and something that will affect all of us."

"Spare me," Yugao snapped. "If you took any of this seriously, if anyone did, the entire village would be on the lookout for the killer. Instead, you refuse to tell the public that a man was murdered, you destroy all the evidence you can, and you wrap up Hayate's body and store it someplace where nobody can see it."

"Miss Uzuki, please. You know that we can't let word of this incident leave the village—"

"Who cares if it leaves the village?" she asked angrily. "Who cares if the foreigners catch wind of the fact that a killer struck in our village? The Chunin Exam is still taking place here. It's not as if their visit would be inconvenienced by police business. The entire point of the Exams is for them to watch elite Genin from all across the region battle. Hunting for a criminal would do nothing to disrupt the Exams!"

"Miss Uzuki, you're not being fair—"

"It's been obvious from the beginning what the police's intention is," she went on fiercely, cutting him off. Standing up, she jabbed a finger at him. "You can lie to me, you can lie to everyone else, you can even lie to yourself, but it doesn't change the fact that there is no real investigation. The whole case has been about keeping the entire thing swept under the rug!"

"Miss—"

"You're the worst type of police," Yugao raged. "You're the sort who lets politics interfere with his work. You value the reputation of the village more than justice. You're the weak, corrupt officer with absolutely no integrity, no ideals—"

"_That's enough_!" Biko thundered. Standing up, he'd slammed the palms of his hands onto his desk, causing many of the objects he kept on it to shake and rattle; the noise was sufficient to wake Kosho from her deep sleep, and she looked up in alarm. Biko's eyes had narrowed into angry slits, and his teeth were bared like the fangs of some feral dog. "The dedication of the officers in this department to find out who killed Hayate Gekko is unquestionable," he growled. "We are all working under extremely tight restrictions. Yes, we have been told that the entire affair was to be kept quiet and not disclosed to the public. We are under no orders to keep the killer from being discovered, and I can assure you, if we were, we'd have _the integrity_ to ignore such a command."

"Then what progress have you made so far?" asked Yugao, unconvinced.

"That's not information I can tell you," Biko answered. "He may have been your boyfriend, but this is not your case. You're going to have to leave it in our hands."

"When you're under orders to not treat this like an ordinary murder? When we'd have to wait over a month before the MPs launch a real investigation? When you have every reason to just let the murderer run free and forget this ever happened?" Yugao said angrily. "I think not."

"Miss Uzuki, it doesn't matter what you think," Biko replied coldly. "The fact of the matter is that you are not a member of the police, you will not be a part of this investigation, and you never will be due to your emotional attachment to the case."

"You're not talking to some civilian, Inuzuka," Yugao snapped. "I'm a member of the ANBU Black Ops, in case you've forgotten."

"That's all well and good. Unfortunately, your rank as an ANBU does not give you any authority whatsoever over anyone in the Military Police."

"I was aware of that," she responded through gritted teeth. "But you're a fool if you think that word doesn't spread, and if you think that it won't reach me."

"And if it does?" asked Biko. "As I've said, you won't be a part of this investigation. You can believe any rumor you care to. In the end, we'll be the ones who take care of this."

"I'll be having a word with Lord Hokage about this," Yugao said. "Then we'll see who takes care of it."

Biko shook his head and sat back down. "Do whatever you please. As long as you are not interfering in my work, what you do is not my concern." Taking a deep breath to collect himself, he began to set everything on his desk straight. He looked back up at Yugao. "I think we're done here."

She glared at him for a moment, then wordlessly exited his office, slamming the door behind her.

88888888

Roiyaru leading the way once again, Hanzaki made his way through one of the many vast army encampments outside of Naikatei. They had been walking for quite a while, since Hanzaki had refused to ride a horse from the city to the campsite, and his feet and legs were beginning to ache. The noon sun glared fiercely down at them, making him sweat slightly under the collar. The colonel wished he could shed his uniform and walk around shirtless as many of the other soldiers did. It was the middle of summer, and he was feeling every bit of it. However, he felt he had a standard to live up to, and continued to wear the uniform proudly despite the discomfort.

"You sure you remember the right way?" Hanzaki asked his aide.

"I do, sir," Roiyaru answered. "Well, unless he moved his office. Then I suppose we'd be in trouble." He laughed.

"Let's hope that isn't the case, then." Observing the encampment as he traveled through it, it seemed that order wasn't strictly enforced here. None of the troops he saw were in armor, which was understandable, considering that the majority of the men wouldn't have been given any and those who were would choose not to wear it in this sort of weather. The spearmen issued hauberks would probably only want to wear something like that when there was a risk of going into combat, and leave it off whenever they could get away with it. Officers of Hanzaki's rank, who were rather expensive to replace, were issued a complete set of armor, to protect them in the event of assassination attempts or ambushes.

While the majority of the nations in the region had mostly adopted distinctively Far Western designs for their armor, Lightning and Sound were notable exceptions. Like Lightning Country, the armor used by Sound was instead aesthetically modeled after the suits worn by samurai that had reigned supreme in this region long ago. However, unlike Lightning, the area that would come to be known as the Land of Rice Fields had abandoned the traditional designs during the Days of Submission, and then later adopted the distinctive Western style shortly following the Reconquest; that is, until the Emperor stamped out that practice when he took power and reformed the military. As far as Hanzaki was aware, Sound was the only country to revive the style after previously abandoning it. Hanzaki wasn't certain if that reform had been motivated by a hatred for the West or a love for the home region's native culture, but he didn't much care. The only real difference was aesthetic; the armor makers still utilized modern techniques and incorporated several Western practices (such as wearing a mail shirt underneath the cuirass, rather than a silk robe), ensuring that Imperial officers were as well-protected as those from any other nation.

The two officers continued on their way. With a few exceptions, none of the soldiers Hanzaki saw were doing anything productive. Even those who were clearly working at some task, such as carrying supplies or delivering a message through the camp, did their job with casual nonchalance, taking their time and pausing to talk every time they ran into someone they recognized. He chuckled quietly to himself. _Ah, memories_.

Roiyaru continued deeper into the camp, leading him past a large tent that appeared to be serving as a makeshift armory. "If I'm not mistaken, his tent should be just past here," he murmured. Hanzaki hoped that he was right. After what felt like ten minutes, the pair of them finally neared a medium-sized tent with armed soldiers standing guard at the entrance.

"That it?" Hanzaki asked, picking up his pace so that he walked in step with his aide.

"Yes, sir," answered the major.

Hanzaki wiped his brow in relief. He wasn't sure he could have gone very much farther without taking a break first. Approaching the tent flap that led inside, the two guards noticed their uniforms and stood at attention. Noting their armor and shields, he saw that they were spearmen, presumably borrowed from another regiment by Gentaru. However, their presence seemed rather unnecessary in a place like this. Gentaru was either as strict as Roiyaru had mentioned, or rather paranoid.

Walking past the guards and into the tent, Hanzaki sent a nod in the direction of the one nearest to him and entered. Inside, two more armored guards stood at the ready, both of them clutching a spear and shield. Seeing the two officers, they immediately stood at attention just as the men outside had done. Hanzaki gave another nod, then continued his approach to the lunch table Gentaru was using as a desk. It almost seemed like he was posting so many guards to compensate for the shoddy conditions he was working under.

Looking up from a sheet of paper he'd been writing on, he saw Hanzaki and quickly stood up from his chair. "Colonel Fuma!" he exclaimed, recognizing him by sight. It seemed that he'd been given the news after all. "Forgive me, sir. I'd heard that I should be expecting your arrival, but I wasn't sure when." Extending his hand to shake, Hanzaki took it.

"There's nothing to apologize about…Gentaru, I presume?" He could see that the man carried the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

"That'd be me, sir," he nodded. "Top brass placed in charge of the 21st Regiment, until they sent you to relieve me of that post." Hanzaki had been expecting Gentaru to react to this with bitterness, but the man's voice carried nothing but genuine relief.

"Where'll they send you now?" he inquired, wondering if he had been promised some sort of special position.

"Oh, I imagine I'll go back to commanding my old battalion. That'd make you my immediate superior."

"And you're…well, excited about that?" Hanzaki asked, scratching his head. "Most folks would be sort of upset about being demoted."

Gentaru chuckled. "Sir, it's not a demotion, any more than being given command of the 21st was a promotion. They never bumped up my rank, and they never sent me a fatter paycheck. I was just a light colonel given a lot more work and responsibilities than he was being paid for. And, to be perfectly honest, even if was promoted and paid more, I think I prefer being a battalion commander anyway. It's just something I'm more suited to."

"I'm sure you made a perfectly fine commander for this regiment," Hanzaki said. _This guy turned out to be a lot mellower than I expected_, he thought. _I'll probably be able to depend on him to help me get used to this job along with Roiyaru, which is certainly a relief_. He went on to another question. "Are my men in fit fighting condition?"

"Of course, sir," Gentaru said. "If there's one thing I made sure of, that's it. Morale is high, and these men are eager to be set loose on those Fang bastards. Weapons and armor have been inspected repeatedly to make sure they're of top quality." He grinned. "And that's including the experimental stuff manufactured in Snow."

Hanzaki's brow rose. "Really? What sort of stuff?" He'd heard rumors of the technology produced in the Land of Snow, and how it was unlike anything else in the world.

"Sir, some of these things are the scariest weapons I've ever seen. The only thing more terrifying would be going up against a nin-snake."

Hanzaki's brow rose even further, and he folded his arms in front of his chest. This man had piqued his interest. "What exactly are we talking about here?"

"There's one device I'm particularly fond of," he said. "All of the crates they're shipped in and the documents mentioning them refer to it as 'Weapon 9.' I'm not sure if that's for security reasons, or if the guys in Snow couldn't come up with anything more imaginative. But the men here have taken to calling it 'dragonbreath.'"

The official name alone had a rather foreboding ring to it; there was something innately utilitarian and ruthless about it. The nickname sounded menacing in its own right. "And what exactly does it do?"

"I'll tell you what it does," Gentaru said, his grin growing wider. "It spits out hellfire. Everything within a few yards is within range, and anything you shoot at gets lit up like a candle."

"I'm sorry…" Roiyaru suddenly interjected. "…Did you say that it 'spits hellfire'? It can…shoot fire? The way you shoot a crossbow?"

"Exactly," Gentaru said, nodding. "You pick your target, you aim, you pull the trigger, and the dragonbreath will light it up. Gets roasted to a crisp in a few seconds. These things will be a holy terror on the field."

"But…how does that even work?" Roiyaru asked, and Hanzaki shared his confusion. It sounded more like some fantasy than an actual weapon. Gentaru shrugged.

"You're asking the wrong guy," he replied. "I didn't design it, and I'm not being trained in operating one of those things. My suggestion to you is to find someone who is, or get your hands on one of the manuals that come in the crate."

"I just might do that," Roiyaru said thoughtfully.

"What other things have you seen?" Hanzaki asked Gentaru.

"Oh sir, there's a long list of stuff I could mention. I think it'd take half a day just to introduce you to each thing they've shipped to us."

"Well, I need to be shown around anyway. Care to give the two of us a tour?"

"Colonel, it would be my pleasure." Never losing his grin, Gentaru moved to walk past them and out of the tent, motioning for them to follow. "Right this way, sir."

88888888

Returning to the stream, Naruto discovered to his delight that he could walk across the water's surface with hardly any effort. Whatever the Hokage had done had been painful, but it had worked. Even with the leg weights strapped on, he couldn't resist sprinting up and down the stream out of sheer excitement at having mastered a new trick. Finally, his legs sore and a stitch in his side, he returned to solid ground where Guy stood waiting for him.

"Excellent work!" he exclaimed, a pleased expression on his face. "Your chakra control is far better than it initially appeared. You won't have to struggle so hard to master taijutsu techniques, which really takes the feeling of success out of it…but you do have to learn the moves in time for the final rounds, so I suppose it's for the best."

"You'll finally start teaching me the stuff Lee knows?" Naruto asked ecstatically.

"In due time," Guy answered. "You have the necessary skill in chakra manipulation to learn those moves, or at least the ones that I'd teach you. But there are other things that you need to be trained in as a prerequisite, instructing you in proper stance and building up your strength not the least of them."

"Proper stance?" asked Naruto, frustrated. "What does stance matter? You just pound your enemy until he's down! And strength is already covered, since I've been wearing these weights."

Guy shook his head. "Stance is far more important that you think, Naruto," he said. "You remember your bout with Shino, don't you? You remember how difficult it was to subdue him in hand-to-hand combat. You had no stance, no form—no instruction in how to fight properly in that area. You attacked recklessly, and on impulse. You left yourself extremely vulnerable repeatedly—and so did he. Had you been trained by me, or Kakashi, for that matter, in proper fighting form, you would have given Shino no openings to exploit and been able to take him down the instant he gave you the chance."

"I still won, didn't I?"

"You were dangerously close to losing. It came down to the final blow, which just as easily could have resulted in him being the victor rather than you. Against Sasuke, you may not be given any second chances. The first opening he gives you will have to be his last."

Naruto crossed his arms, an annoyed expression on his face. He wasn't fully convinced that he needed to be trained in fighting stance, since the time leading up to the final rounds was precious and he figured that learning new moves would be vital. But the idea of taking down Shino much earlier than he had, and taking down Sasuke with similar speed, was very attractive.

"And as for strength," Guy went on, "the leg weights won't nearly be enough. You can enhance the power of your blows with chakra, but increasing your base power capabilities is invaluable. Your entire body will have to be pushed to its very limit for you to receive enough of an improvement in time for the finals."

"That'll be no sweat, Guy-sensei," Naruto said confidently. "It doesn't matter much you push me, I can manage anything."

"That's the spirit!" Guy replied, laughing. "Now, make some Shadow Clones."

"Huh? Why?"

"We have to push you past anything you've ever accomplished," Guy repeated. "You have to reach heights you never knew you were capable of. To the limit."

"But how would Shadow Clone Jutsu…?"

"We're going to have to drain you of chakra," Guy explained. "You won't improve your base capabilities if you use chakra to help you along. So, away with it!"

"Fine," Naruto grunted. Forming the hand seal, he created a handful of clones, all of whom stood behind him. "Now what?"

"No, no!" said Guy. "We'll need more than that. Much more."

"Just how many clones do you want?" asked Naruto.

"Let's say…two hundred."

"Two hundred?" Naruto asked, bewildered. "Will there even be enough room for them here?"

"We'll just have to make room," Guy answered. "Now hurry up, you're wasting time that ought to be spent on training!"

Muttering, Naruto repeated the jutsu, this time creating an enormous mob of clones that covered the entire shoreline and began spilling into the stream.

"Excellent!" Guy said. "Now, we'll just have to get them all organized into neat rows. Then we may begin instruction in proper fighting form." As ridiculous as the command was, no matter how much Naruto tried to argue Guy insisted on making all of the clones practice alongside Naruto, rather than just teaching the pupil. After nearly half an hour of struggling to bring order to the chaotic group, Naruto finally accomplished what his sensei had asked and organized the clones into neat rows.

With all of the clones on one side of the stream, Guy stood on the other, and began to shout commands for them all to follow. Positioning his legs in a precise fighting stance, he then demonstrated a punching combination, which Naruto and his clones all followed to the best of their ability. After nearly an hour of repeating the combination, Guy was satisfied with their progress and moved on to a kicking combination, again demonstrating what they were to follow. This exercise quickly turned into a disaster, with clones accidently kicking the ones in front of them and destroying them. In no time at all, the number of students dropped to less than a hundred.

Guy commanded Naruto to replace all of the lost clones before proceeding; as soon as the drill was repeated, it ended with the same result.

"Replace them again!" Guy shouted from the other side of the stream.

"Why?" Naruto yelled back angrily. "Just teach me the move, it's not like the clones matter!"

"Just do it!" Guy ordered, refusing to give any explanation. "As for the clones, they'll have to learn their attack range and keep from destroying each other. If they do, you'll just have to replace them again."

Fuming, Naruto did as Guy commanded and replaced the lost clones. The kicking combination was repeated several times, with Naruto forced to create replacements after each one, before the many clones began to learn how to space themselves out best to keep from hitting whoever was directly in front of them. After enough repetitions, there were eventually no losses after one kick, allowing Naruto to focus on the exercise and become more familiar with the combination.

Once Guy was satisfied, he moved on to another punching combination, then another kicking combination after that, and then yet another punching drill. Naruto lost count of how many hours he stood there, repeating all the different combination attacks; finally, Guy declared that it had been enough. Crossing the stream, he commanded Naruto to get rid of the many clones.

"Are we done for today?" Naruto asked, panting.

"Not quite," Guy chuckled. "Run twenty laps around the village, then meet me at Hokage Mountain."

"I-wha-twenty?" Naruto spluttered.

"I thought you said that you could handle anything?"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"Excellent!" Guy said with a grin. "Then I'll see you at the mountain in a few hours." He ran off, leaving a speechless Naruto alone to begin his run. Forcing himself to move his sore legs, he did as his sensei instructed and began the laps, cursing a blue streak the entire time.

The sun had set by the time he finished running around the village. Waiting for him at the base of the mountain was Guy, holding numerous weights in his hands. _Oh boy… _Naruto thought with dread.

"You ought to be able to run these laps faster," Guy said sternly.

"Maybe if you didn't—"

"Here, put these on," Guy said as he held out the new weights, interrupting him. Naruto took them and nearly pitched over from the weight.

"Where do you want me to put them?" he gasped. "My legs?"

"No. These will go on your arms." Helping him strap them on to his forearms, he then grabbed two additional weights. "And these, you'll carry in your hands."

Groaning, Naruto took them; he was only able to hold on and keep himself upright with the most intense effort he could muster. "Now what?" he wheezed.

"Now," said Guy cheerfully, "you'll run up and down the mountain ten times." If Naruto hadn't known his taijutsu sensei better, he would have mistaken that cheerfulness for a sadistic pleasure to watch his pupil suffer.

"Are…you…out…of…your…mind…?" Naruto managed to ask.

"The sooner you get this done, the better. You'll need a good night's rest to be ready for training tomorrow morning!"

"Dammit…why don't…you just…make me…wear a suit of…heavy armor…while you're…at it?"

Guy beamed at the Genin. "Naruto, your enthusiasm is truly commendable!" he exclaimed. "I'll see what can be arranged."

With a groan, Naruto turned to stare up at the stone summit and slowly began his long ascent.

88888888

Orochimaru sat at his desk, poring over an endless number of incoming reports and analyses. The sheer amount of paperwork he had to do was maddening, and it only grew worse even as he did his best to reduce the amount of work he had to do. He ordered for Kimimaro to sort through all the paperwork that was meant to be forwarded to him, telling him to deal with everything that was within his authority, and eventually commanded Kabuto to do the same thing once Kimimaro had finished. Even with two other people working on it, the workload grew even more intense as Daybreak approached. As tedious as the task was, it was too important to simply shove it all to others. Kabuto and Kimimaro were the only competent officials within the palace that he trusted enough to share the workload with. If he didn't take some measure of responsibility, it would lead to trouble.

A soft knock at the door interrupted his work. "Enter," he said absently, having never looked up and returning to scribbling on a document after a brief pause. The double doors swung open and someone entered, walking quickly to his desk. After another several seconds of writing, he finally looked up to see who had come in. A woman in an Elite Guard dress uniform stood before him, tucking several large sealed envelopes under her arm. She was fair-skinned, with dark eyes and her dark hair kept in a tight bun on the back of her head, leaving room for her peaked cap. She wore red lipstick, and her fingernails were painted bright red as well. Orochimaru could not recall ever seeing her before.

"Hail Lord Otokage!" she said loudly and clearly, raising her arm in salute. Orochimaru wordlessly motioned for her to continue, and she pulled the envelopes out from under her arm. "These messages just arrived, My Lord," she said, handing them to him. He took them and laid the stack flat on his desk. He wondered where Tayuya was; she was typically the one who delivered things to his office. Perhaps Arashi had tied her up in some other task and the responsibility had been given to this woman in the shinobi's absence.

"From whom?" he inquired out loud. Could it finally be the letters from the Great Nations? Surely it had been a sufficient amount of time by now.

"Earth, Water, and Lightning," she replied, fulfilling Orochimaru's hopes.

"Excellent," Orochimaru said, elated. Wasting no more time, he seized the first envelope and tore it open, eagerly pulling out the letter within. Normally, Tayuya would give him whatever documents that were meant for him and then promptly leave; this woman had not moved from her spot in front of his desk. She probably had no idea how this sort of thing was normally carried out, and would probably want to see if there was anything more she could do for him. Impatient to get through the messages, he decided to permit her to stay and did not say anything. Pulling out his decryption sheet, he studied the first letter carefully and quickly read through the entire message.

_Lord Otokage,_

_It is my pleasure to tell you that the Land of Earth has found the terms of your proposed alliance satisfactory. You may count on us to stand by the Empire of Sound in your campaign against the Land of Fire's dominance and tyranny. We are eager to strengthen the bond between our two kingdoms, and look forward to your next message._

It was followed by the signature of the daimyo of Earth Country. "Wonderful, wonderful," Orochimaru said. He quickly reached for the next envelope, opening it and expertly scanning the message.

_Lord Otokage,_

_As our messages have repeatedly told you, we have no interest in joining you in an alliance. While the Land of Fire undoubtedly remains an influential nation in the region we inhabit, along with being a military and economic rival, we have no desire to face them in open war. Groups of the failed revolutionary faction that devastated our country remain active, and we wish to focus on rooting them out before we attempt facing an external threat. We are not opposed to establishing other agreements with your nation, such as trade contracts._

It was signed by the daimyo of the Land of Lightning, the man who had succeeded his murdered predecessor and led the government forces to victory over the revolutionaries. Orochimaru frowned underneath his mask. A minor setback. He'd offer them another proposal, one that they would be able to find favorable to their interests. Perhaps this daimyo was afraid of Fire Country's power, or maybe he did not believe the Empire of Sound was a trustworthy ally. Whatever the true reason was, Orochimaru knew that the revolutionaries in Lightning posed no real threat to the Lightning Lord. Reaching for the final letter, he ripped open the envelope and pulled out the document within.

_Lord Otokage,_

_The honorable Mizukage of the Hidden Mist Village has informed me of all the details of the alliance you have proposed. She took care to mention that, at the time that the meeting of Kages took place, you could not claim a single true ally. The Kazekage of the Hidden Sand Village had been able to promise you the support of his shinobi in your special operation intended to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village, but the Land of Wind had no formal alliance with the Empire of Sound, and, frankly, was unlikely to ever join you in war due to their current leadership. She also mentioned that the Land of Lightning did not deign to even take part in the negotiations, indicating that they have no current interest in this endeavor and did not believe it to be worth their time to even discuss the possibility of joining in an alliance in the future._

_However, she did not fail to tell me that the Tsuchikage of the Hidden Rock Village expressed great enthusiasm for joining you in your plans, and that he claimed the Earth Lord would share his opinion, making them a likely ally. She told me that the Kazekage promised the Wind Lord would have a change of heart once your joint special operation was a success, meaning Wind would have a better chance of fully supporting you. With no confirmation or promise of any allies, it is clear that standing by you in this war would be a very risky decision._

_I have assessed these risks, considered all options available to my country, and finally came to a decision. Lord Otokage, I have no greater desire than to see the Land of Fire toppled from their position of dominance in our region. I fully and willingly accept all the risks of my decision, and promise that you can count on the Land of Water to stand at your side when the day of war is upon us._

Having reached the end, Orochimaru grinned widely. Everything had finally fallen into place. The Water Lord's message had clearly been written and sent sometime before the previous afternoon, but it made no difference.

"Good news, My Lord?" asked the Guard officer, probably sensing his delight.

"Excellent news," Orochimaru told her happily. "These messages have finally cemented our alliance with Water and Earth. We are finally prepared for the war to come."

"So we have confirmation at last," she replied, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Yes," he said, nodding his head. "This country has a long list of enemies, and now we finally have the allies we need to give all of them exactly what they deserve."

"That is thrilling news, My Lord," she answered. "If I may, My Lord, I do have prior obligations to take care of."

"Yes, yes, you may go," he responded, motioning towards the door.

"Thank you, My Lord," she said. She raised her arm in salute once more, and walked briskly out of his office.

Orochimaru leaned back in his seat and gave a contented sigh. Today had been the best day he could remember having in a while. _And better days are still to come_, he thought, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

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During my hiatus, I made a bunch of edits to older chapters. Try and find them all!

You know, I really was on the verge of just giving up and discontinuing this story. By now, I've come to despise _Naruto_ and its entire shitty fanbase. But I had a change of heart; this site just feels so empty without me.

**Quote of the Day:**

"Listen, just between us, it might seem presumptuous, but the government needs me a lot more than I need it. You know, I never say this, but there are innumerable people who write me saying that they are only voting for him [President Itamar Franco] because of me. I'm his biggest vote-getter."

- Brazilian finance minister Rubens Ricupero further expounding during the interview's taping break, still completely unaware that he was being broadcasted live across the entire country. He resigned two days later.


	28. The Best Laid Schemes

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 28: The Best Laid Schemes_

Strolling contentedly through the village in the direction of the hot springs, Might Guy made no attempt to conceal his delight from everyone around him, smiling brightly and waving at everyone he passed on the street. Leaving Naruto to train by himself (by strapping hundred pound weights to both his arms and commanding him to punch a tree ten thousand times), he embarked on several important errands within the village. Mainly due to the fact that Jiraiya wouldn't show up at the springs until noon, he decided to pay a visit to the Leaf Village's finest smith first.

An elderly man, he was a retired shinobi with an expert knowledge of his craft. Supposedly, he'd been trained in it as a child and never gave up the art even after he became a ninja. With a lifetime of experience, he would surely be the best candidate to make the armor Naruto had asked for. Unfortunately, it hadn't been as simple as just walking into the smithy and dropping an order as if it were a restaurant. The man had very little experience with making armor; being a smith in a shinobi village meant that virtually the only things he crafted were weapons. And when Guy explained to him the extra features he had in mind for the armor, the smith reacted with bewilderment.

Initially, he flatly refused to begin working on such an item, since it was entirely impractical, would cost a fortune, would be extremely dangerous for the user to wear into battle, and was just a foolish idea in the first place. Patiently explaining that the armor was strictly for training purposes and would not be used in a fight, Guy then explained the great urgency his pupil required it in time to prepare for the final rounds of the Chunin Exam. Finally, after much convincing, the smith saw that what Guy was asking wouldn't lead to someone's injury, eventually relenting and agreeing to what he still believed was an insane idea. Promising that the suit of armor would be of the finest quality he could achieve—which he warned would be lackluster compared to the work of real armor smiths—he estimated that the item would be completed within a week. Just as he said, the order cost Guy a fortune, but it was one he was only too happy to pay.

That done, he immediately set off for the hospital to pay Lee a visit. Nearly completely healed from his bout with Gaara, the doctors nevertheless insisted on keeping him there a while longer for observation. A kunoichi was already at Lee's side when he arrived; it was Sakura. It seemed that volunteering at the hospital, learning many new things from the medic-nin that worked there, was her method of training. Leaping out of bed at the sight of his sensei, Sakura did her best to get Lee to lie back down to no avail. Hugging each other tightly, Guy and his pupil had a tearful reunion; the Jonin gave him a stirring speech as Lee listened attentively. Sakura stared at him with annoyance, and seemed relieved when he finally departed so that Lee could get his rest.

Feeling in an even better mood than before, and anticipating yet another reason to rejoice soon, he headed for the hot springs, figuring that he could just wait for Jiraiya to show up if he arrived too early. He was eager to see his old friend again, after such a long time apart. If business hadn't required the two of them to have a talk, Guy would have made sure to pay him a visit sometime soon regardless.

To his mild surprise and great elation, as soon as he reached the springs he saw that the Sannin had already appeared. His presence here at this time of day was highly irregular, as the majority of the women would not be arriving until later, along with the fact that he typically slept in. Perhaps he was attempting to do more research within a single day, or else he had found a subject worth getting up early for. Excitedly quickening his pace at the sight of him, he rapidly closed the distance between the two of them. Adding another surprise to the fact that Jiraiya was there so early, it soon became apparent that he wasn't conducting any research. It looked like he was talking to someone—though with his back to Guy, it was impossible to see who.

Getting within a few feet of him, it sounded more like Jiraiya was giving a lecture than taking part in a conversation, judging by the stern tone of his voice and the way he wagged his finger. "…still rushing things. The speed of your attacks is definitely something that will matter, but you have to focus on perfecting your accuracy for now."

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei," a child's voice replied quietly. It sounded like a girl, but from where Guy stood he still couldn't see who it was. At the moment, he wasn't really concerned about who it could it be.

"Jiraiya!" he greeted loudly, making the Sannin start. Before Jiraiya could even finish turning around, Guy wrapped his arms around him in a tight embrace, deaf to the large man's squawk of protest. Unable to curb his enthusiasm, he wound up lifting Jiraiya several inches off the ground in his excitement, the Sannin's legs flailing comically all the while.

"It's good to see you again too, Guy," Jiraiya gasped, having difficulty breathing due to the vice-like constriction.

"We find ourselves reunited at last!" Guy said happily. "What a splendid day today turned out to be!"

"Yes, yes, splendid!" Jiraiya answered, his face beginning to turn red as he continued struggling against Guy's grip. "Would you mind putting me down?"

Laughing merrily, Guy released Jiraiya, allowing him to stand on solid ground again. Letting out a grunt of irritation, the Sannin smoothed out his clothes and began dusting them off. Finally free of his embrace, he turned to look at the Jonin.

"Not that I'm not…ecstatic to see you," he said, "but we were sort of in the middle of something here." He gestured towards the child he had been speaking with before Guy had interrupted; seeing her for the first time, Guy recognized her as the Hyuga of Team 7. She gave him a curious expression, apparently surprised by his arrival.

"Interrupting what, exactly?" he asked, wondering Jiraiya could have been scolding her about. "Was she getting into trouble?"

"No, no, nothing like that," Jiraiya said with a chuckle. "I've taken her on as my student, at least until the final rounds."

"Ah, so this is where Neji's opponent has gone to train!" Guy said excitedly. "She couldn't have chosen a more experienced tutor. The upcoming match ought to be interesting indeed!"

"Her little sister is around here somewhere, too," Jiraiya went on. Taking a quick look around, he shook his head. "No idea where that brat ran off to, though. She's the one who'd be getting into trouble—Hinata here knows how to conduct herself in public."

"You're one to talk!" a furious voice suddenly screeched. Another Hyuga, presumably Hinata's younger sister, suddenly appeared from behind a nearby bathhouse, carrying a tall stack of thick books. The stack reached up to her forehead, obscuring her vision as she took slow, unsteady steps in an attempt to keep from tripping; the stack swayed dangerously with each step she took, forcing her to be extra cautious and walk as slowly as possible. She seemed short of breath, as if she'd been carrying the books for some distance. "Spying on naked women…the way you do…completely vulnerable…absolutely shameless…" she panted. It sounded like she had an entire rant specifically for Jiraiya's behavior, but at the moment didn't have the breath to say it. With a grunt, she dropped the books at Jiraiya's feet, sending a thick cloud of dust into the air and making her sneeze.

"What an entrance!" the Sannin said. "Charging in here, spouting nonsense and slander, and doing everything I ask you to do with such a horrible attitude. That's no way to behave in front of a guest!"

Glaring at her sister's sensei, she turned to look at Guy and her eyes widened. "Hello, Guy-sensei," she said respectfully. "How…uh…how has Neji been doing?"

"I'm afraid I don't know," the Jonin answered. "I haven't had a chance to speak with him in several days."

"Oh…you've been at Lee's bedside, then?"

"I just returned from visiting him, actually. His recovery has been successful! He will no doubt be fit for duty very soon."

"So that's what you've been up to lately?" inquired Jiraiya. "How touching."

"Actually, I've been tirelessly training a Genin to better help him prepare for the final rounds," Guy said proudly. "The progress we've made so far has been stupendous!"

"If not Neji, then who…?"

"It's a remarkable coincidence, truly," Guy said. "It turns out that both you and I are training members of Kakashi's team!"

"That certainly doesn't give a good impression about his teaching abilities," Jiraiya muttered, rubbing his chin.

"You can't be training Sakura…you must be training—"

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Guy proclaimed happily. Hinata looked at Guy in shock, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, while Jiraiya's brow arched in surprise. Hinata's sister, however, was unfazed.

"And how's that turning out for you?"

"Excellently!" the Jonin replied. "Kakashi has no clue that he has taken such a spectacular student under his wing. His enthusiasm and determination to better himself is remarkable! Even as I push him to his very limits, certain that I have given him everything he can handle, what does he do? He asks for the training to be more strenuous!"

"Naruto, making it all the way to the finals…" Jiraiya murmured thoughtfully. "Well that's really something. Who's he going up against?"

"Sasuke," Hinata's sister answered before Guy could.

"Uchiha?" the Sannin inquired, and the girl nodded. "Hmm. Should make for an interesting fight."

"The battle will be glorious!" Guy declared. "It will doubtlessly be the highlight of this year's Chunin Exams—a match that everyone will be talking about for many years to come! The final remaining member of one of Konoha's most prestigious clans…versus a student that I taught!"

Jiraiya snorted at this, but managed to keep a straight face and said nothing. "It seems that this year's Exams are going to be especially good, then. If the rest of the fights are anything like the two I've learned about, there'll be plenty of interesting matches to keep the crowd entertained."

"Indeed!" Guy answered, failing to detect a subtle note of sarcasm in the Sannin's voice. "Just as I said, it will be glorious!"

"So, had you just stopped by to say hello?" Jiraiya asked. "You'd be welcome to stay and help me train Hinata here, but I assume that you'll want to get back to Naruto and…do whatever it is you do."

"Actually, Naruto's training is what brought me here," Guy said. "I was required to see you so that I could further his advancement."

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"Under Lord Hokage's advisement, I am to teach him how to perform a summoning," Guy explained. "Despite my eagerness to teach him how to summon tortoises, the Hokage told me that it would be unsuitable, and said that I should find you instead."

"Find me?" asked Jiraiya, confused. "Why? You…oh." It suddenly became clear to him. "Sarutobi wants Naruto to learn to summon toads."

"That was his advice," Guy said. "I can't understand why he has no appreciation for something as noble and majestic as a tortoise, but if he says Naruto is to learn to summon toads, who am I to disagree?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "If you're not, then I am," he said. "Forget what Sarutobi told you. I really have no idea what he could have had in mind, but it's just a bad idea. There's no reason for him to learn a summon, let alone use my toad contract."

"It was part of the Hokage's plan for me to push Naruto to his limits and completely drain him of chakra," Guy explained further. "It's all so that he can learn to draw out the demonic power within him at will."

"No doubt a great thing to teach him," Jiraiya said, unmoved. "However, there are other methods to exhaust his chakra. I'm certain you must be doing a good job of that without teaching him to summon."

"I do my best," Guy said sadly. "But his energy is boundless. As I mentioned earlier, he has already begun complaining that I'm not pushing him hard enough, and insisted that I give him armor to further weigh him down and increase the intensity of his training. By all appearances, he'll need an advanced technique, like summoning, to finally wear him down."

The Sannin sighed. "Summoning is something that ought to be taught to someone responsible enough to use it. If everything I've ever heard about Naruto being a delinquent is true, then it sounds like you should find some other way to tire him out."

"Naruto takes his training and advancement very seriously. I'm confident that he'll use any new techniques he learns with responsibility."

"I suppose it's your responsibility to decide what he's ready to learn, being his teacher and all," Jiraiya replied. "But there's no point in having him sign the toad contract. If you want to teach him summoning, just have him sign the tortoise one."

"I'm in full agreement with that idea," Guy said. "Unfortunately, the Hokage isn't."

Jiraiya just chuckled. "Guy, Sarutobi is just being silly. He sees it as some sort of line of succession, or inheritance, or something. I have it, his father had it, and so Naruto should have it. That's nonsense. Of course, if for some reason I were the one training him, and I saw fit to teach him to summon, then I'd just have him sign the toad contract. But I'm busy with someone else. Handing the contract over to you so you can take it back to him would be…a bit of a risk. And making you go get Naruto so you can bring him back here would just lead to an enormous hassle that none of us really have time for. Just go ahead and teach him to summon tortoises."

"But Lord Hokage said…"

"The Hokage," Jiraiya interrupted, "is a bit of a romantic. He gets all sorts of foolish ideas in his head. He might get upset that the perfect story gets ruined and Naruto doesn't learn to summon toads, but he'll see the sense in it."

"But still, surely we can work something out. I wouldn't want the Hokage to be disappointed in my decision."

Jiraiya put a hand on Guy's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. If Sarutobi winds up getting mad, just tell him that I refused to give you the contract. Now come on, we're burning daylight here."

Guy laughed in delight. "Very well then! Naruto shall learn to summon tortoises! Thank you, my friend!"

"Don't mention it," the Sannin replied. "Now if you don't mind, we do have a lot of work to get done here."

"Of course!" Guy exclaimed. "I apologize for the interruption I caused. Raise her to her maximum potential, so that her fight may be nearly as excellent as Naruto's!"

"You don't have to worry about that, Guy," Jiraiya answered, grinning. "By the time I'm finished with her, you'll be begging me to start instructing all of your students on how to get so good."

"We'll see," the Jonin said with another laugh. With that, he turned to leave the hot springs, hurrying back to where he had left Naruto.

888888888

Note in hand, Sakura made it past the sentries at the gate of the Nara clan's medical research lab and headed for the front door. Her muscles warmed up, she felt as if she had been doing a little training—reaching this lab was some light exercise in and of itself, since it was in a fairly remote location some distance from the village. Too far to walk, she had traveled like a typical shinobi would, hopping from tree to tree. It got the blood pumping better than a casual stroll, and on top of that, the journey took a lot longer than it should have thanks to the poor directions she'd been given, causing her to get lost several times. She hadn't even been aware that this place existed until a nurse instructed her to go and get some supplies to restock the hospital.

Never getting to know Shikamaru very well, and unfamiliar with the Naras in general, she had no idea they had a history of being experts in medicine. If her advancement as a medic was something she was going to take seriously, it'd likely be something worth checking out.

Arriving at the entrance, she reached for one of the heavy brass knockers and pounded it against the door. Waiting for someone to answer, she absentmindedly began to smooth out her shirt, flicking away a couple of leaves that had latched onto her clothing. Having stayed cooped up in the hospital for the last few days, she hadn't realized how much she missed being able to go out. The hospital didn't allow her to use healing techniques on injured patients, instead making her serve as an errand girl, carrying crates of supplies around and delivering messages. It was becoming incredibly boring. A task that required her to leave the hospital, stretch her legs, and use some basic chakra skills was a welcome change.

The door suddenly creaked and was slowly pulled open, snapping her attention back to what she had come here for. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise when she saw the person letting her in. "Shikamaru?"

The Genin looked at her and frowned. "Can I help you?" he asked, his tone annoyed.

"The hospital needed me to pick up some stuff," she said. She hadn't expected to see him all the way out here; from what the nurse had told her, this place was only staffed with a few medic-nin. She'd been expecting one of them to answer the door, not Shikamaru.

"What sort of stuff?" She handed him the note written by the nurse, which he slowly read. After a minute, he sighed and handed it back to her. "Yeah, I know where we keep this stuff…come on, follow me." He shoved his hands into his pockets as he began to head back into the research facility. "Close the door behind you, would you?" he asked as she walked inside to follow, not bothering to turn and look at her. An annoyed expression flashing across her face, she nevertheless did as he said. The door was on the heavy side, and so she applied a little extra strength to hurry up and shut it. It flew closed with a bang, and the noise echoed throughout the building. "And keep it down!" his voice called out, irritated.

Sakura sighed, and headed in the direction Shikamaru had gone. He didn't waste any time in showing off how much of an inhospitable host he could be. Making her way through a dimly-lit hallway, she saw that the facility was filled with many small labs, the majority of them empty. Shikamaru ignored them, presumably heading for some store room, and she quickly caught up with him.

"So what are you doing all the way up here?" she asked, falling in step with him. He sighed in annoyance.

"It's quiet up here," he answered, and said nothing else.

"Wouldn't you rather be back in the village, with your team?" she pressed, her curiosity getting the better of her. "They'd probably want to throw a party over your victory or something."

"We already celebrated," Shikamaru answered, his tone reaffirming his preference for silence. Seeing that he would be no good for small talk, Sakura gave up and the two continued walking without another word. The awkward silence made Sakura feel uneasy, but each time she looked up at Shikamaru he seemed unperturbed by it. After a short time they made it to a large room crammed with all sorts of supplies.

"So, you know where everything I need is?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, yeah…" he said. "I'll point it out to you." The two made their way through the cramped, disorganized room, with Shikamaru periodically gesturing towards a box full of something on Sakura's list. Never moving to pick up anything himself, she soon found herself carrying a tall stack of heavy crates. Looking at everything in her arms and going over the list in her head, she judged it would be enough supplies to satisfy the hospital. Nevertheless, she groaned in dismay. Even if the weight presented no problem, making it all the way back to the village without dropping something would be difficult.

Thinking about it, an idea suddenly occurred to her. "You got any rope?" she asked, carefully setting down the stack she had been carrying. "It'd make it a lot easier to carry this stuff if I could just tie it all together."

"Hmm. We must have some rope lying around here somewhere," Shikamaru answered. Looking around and not seeing any, he let out another frustrated sigh. "It's probably going to be under some boxes or something…what a drag…" He began to dig through crates and look in corners; Sakura was initially going to just let him take care of it himself, but realized that he would likely take all day if she didn't help. Joining him in his search, she decided to make another attempt at conversation.

"So what exactly are you doing up here?" she asked from across the room. "Training?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"I already told you. It's quiet up here. I'm up here to get some peace and quiet."

"Wouldn't it be smart to train for the final rounds?"

"I could be asking you the same thing."

"I am training!" Sakura answered. "But all you're doing is lounging around up here as if you were some sort of hermit."

Shikamaru snorted. "You call this training?" he asked. "Doing chores at the hospital? Carrying boxes? Yeah, that Sound Genin should be feeling terrified right now."

"At least I'm doing something," she snapped. Where did he get the nerve to insult her?

"Whatever that 'something' is certainly isn't training."

"Yes, and you're clearly prepared for your match with the Sand kunoichi," Sakura replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "It's not as if she's a member of one of the only two teams good enough to make it all the way to the final rounds without losing a member." Almost subconsciously, she puffed out her chest in pride, realizing that she could have been describing herself.

"You somehow fell under the impression that I give a crap about my match or about becoming a Chunin."

Sakura stared at him. "Are you serious?" she asked disbelievingly. "…Really? After everything you had to go through, after all the tests you had to pass, after everyone you had to fight…you really don't care?"

"Nope."

"Wow," Sakura said, astonished. "Just…wow. You're truly unbelievable. How can someone have such an absolute lack of motivation to succeed? …Why are you even a ninja?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "In hindsight, it was probably a bad decision," he muttered. Turning his back to her, he continued searching for a suitable length of rope. Shaking her head, Sakura followed his example and renewed her search; it was clear that continuing that line of conversation would be pointless, and there wasn't really much else she had in common with him to talk about.

So far she hadn't been able to spot any rope or anything that could be used as a substitute; her strength allowed her to lift up heavy boxes and see if there was anything underneath them, but her search remained fruitless. After a while, she was beginning to wonder if there was any rope to be found in the room at all. _If only Hinata were here…_ she thought wistfully. _Byakugan would have found some rope in no time. _Sighing, she knew there was nothing she could do but continue looking.

"Temari's not really very scary," Shikamaru suddenly said a few minutes later, breaking the silence and surprising her.

"Huh?" she asked, confused.

"Temari," he repeated. "She's not really very intimidating. A battle with her isn't something to worry about."

"What are you talking about? Didn't she beat the crap out of your best friend?"

"Choji never really plans things out," Shikamaru replied. "He's like a bull chasing a cloth. It's something he needs to work on."

"A bull chasing a cloth?" Sakura asked. If that was an idiom it was one she had never heard before.

"Yeah," Shikamaru answered. Seeing the puzzled look on her face, he sighed as he realized he had to explain something else to her now. "In the Far West there are these games they play in an arena, with a huge audience watching. You know, entertainment. There's a guy in flashy clothes in the middle of the stadium, and then they let a bull loose so that it'll go after him. The guy has a sword, and this big red cloth that he waves around, catching the bull's attention. It charges the cloth instead of the man, and he uses his sword to stab it in the heart. So, a little guy with nothing but a flag and a sword is able to easily kill a mindless, rampaging bull. That's sort of how Choji's battle went. He didn't play it very smart, so Temari was able to get the upper hand. But at the end of the day she's still just a guy waving around a flag."

Sakura rubbed her chin thoughtfully, wondering what it would be like to see a fight like that in person. "If you say so," she answered. "Still, it seems like she's good enough to warrant training in advance."

"Not really," he answered. "And like I said, it's not like it matters who'll win anyway." He yawned and stretched out his arms. "I figured that you'd have been smart enough to actually train for your battle, though."

"I already told you, I—"

"Not the volunteer work crap," Shikamaru interrupted, annoyed once more. "Really training. Or at least, trying to plan how you'll win against someone like Dosu. Apparently you care about winning your match, but you're obviously not ready for it."

"I guess I just have the same mentality as you, sort of," she replied with a small laugh. "He's nothing special. Both of his teammates lost pretty quick, and he probably only won because he got lucky."

Shikamaru stared at her, his expression unreadable. "You know, I had figured that your match could have been more interesting than anybody else's."

"What would make you think that?"

"Out of the entire Chunin Exam, I saw that Gaara would be the toughest, and only two others in the final rounds would be capable of beating him."

"Who?"

"Dosu has his sound waves," he said. "Gaara's sand wouldn't be able to block them out. And then there's…you."

"Me?" asked Sakura, surprised. What, he was complimenting her now?

"You're probably the only person who'd have the raw strength to punch your way through the sand walls he'd put up. You'd be able to reach him and just bash his head in. Though I suppose both of you would have to figure out some way to avoid his attacks."

"I guess that I…never really thought about it…" she replied slowly. _Me? Beat Gaara? Someone not even Lee, or anybody else, could win against?_

Shikamaru, appearing to be deep in thought, went quiet for several moments before speaking again. "I guess it's pretty fitting that the winner of your match will get to fight Gaara. When the second round starts, I guess we'll be able to see if Dosu really does stand a chance against him or not."

It took Sakura a few seconds before she realized what he was saying. "_What's that supposed to mean?_" she asked furiously. If she didn't know any better, she'd have said that the hint of a smirk played at Shikamaru's lips at her outburst.

"It means that you don't stand a chance against Dosu," he answered. "Not as long as you keep thinking about him as 'nothing special.'"

"Oh? Care to enlighten me about what makes him so special?"

"I just did."

"Shikamaru, why can't you just give me a straight answer for once?" she asked, her temper flaring. He gave her a disdainful look.

"Ugh. You're probably relying on your strength and ninjutsu to win you the battle," he responded, growing further irritated about her need for him to spell everything out. "You can punch through walls and cut through people as if you had knives for hands. Easy victory, right? Tenten thought along the same lines. She can throw kunais and shurikens from far away, she can take him out in one hit. He's nothing to worry about, so she doesn't bother treating him like a threat. Then what happens? With one attack she's puking her guts out all over the floor, and he beats her face in. If only she'd taken him seriously, if only she'd moved to take him down with her first attack, you'd be fighting _her_ in the final rounds, not Dosu."

"All right, all right," Sakura snapped. "Dosu is a strong ninja, and I have to take him seriously. I was never planning on toying with him in the first place. I'll just make sure to take him out with one punch. That good enough for you?"

He shook his head in what looked more like disappointment than anything else. "You really just don't get it, do you?"

"Just what am I not getting?" she asked, growing angrier the longer the conversation continued.

"Tell me, how exactly are you going to put yourself in a position to knock him out in one punch? _How exactly_ are you going to put yourself in a position to punch him at all? _How exactly_ are you going to make sure that you're the one who makes the first attack? You still think that he's no threat, that he can't defend himself, that the battle will be as simple as walking up to him and hitting him. He's in this to win, you idiot. He won't hold back, he'll make sure to disable you at the very first opportunity. One attack is all that he'll need, and you have absolutely no plans on how to either keep him from using his sound waves, or defend yourself from them."

She sucked in a deep breath in preparation to continue yelling, but she clamped her mouth shut when she realized she had no proper response. Crossing her arms, she settled for sending him a fierce glare, which did nothing to faze him. He was right. She hadn't thought ahead; she had never bothered to assess her opponent's strengths and weaknesses in order to formulate a strategy to beat him like she should have. Shikamaru's annoyed lecture had awakened her to the reality of the situation: if she didn't start planning and training in preparation, she wasn't going to win.

"I…You're right. I haven't really devoted any time to planning for my match," she reluctantly admitted, losing her scowl and allowing her arms to return to her sides. She averted her eyes from Shikamaru, unwilling to meet his gaze. "I've just had a lot of stuff on my mind lately."

"Yeah, something about your boyfriend's match," he said. "I heard about that."

"He's not—I don't have a—" she blurted out. To her confusion, she wasn't certain whether he was accusing her of being Naruto's or Sasuke's girlfriend. _Sasuke's, right? But I guess he could be talking about Naruto…_ This was the exact sort of thing that had been occupying her thoughts nonstop ever since the preliminaries ended, and it was too much to think about right now; she shoved the subject out of her mind. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The Uchiha prick fighting your loudmouth of a teammate, that's what I'm talking about. It's obvious you care more about who wins that fight than yours."

"That's not true! I care a lot about becoming a Chunin!"

"Goddammit, stop yelling," he said, irritated. "And stop acting as if you have to prove something to me. I don't care what you decide to do."

"Look, I do care about winning my battle," she said, consciously lowering the volume of her voice. "I know that I have to start planning, but I don't know where to start. All the advice you've given me so far has been pretty good…so what would you suggest I do?"

"Stop being such a female," he replied, his tone serious, if annoyed. He said nothing else, allowing for the insult to sink in.

Sakura felt her face flush, and she furiously clenched her hands into tight fists. "You…" she began, her voice trembling. Unable to come up with a suitably foul insult, the word was left hanging in the air.

Shikamaru sighed. "Whatever." He suddenly pulled out a coil of rope from a box near him, tossing it to the kunoichi so that it would land at her feet. How long had he known it was there? Hands in his pockets once again, he sauntered out of the store room. "You know the way out. Don't slam the door this time."

Fuming, she glared at his back until he was out of sight.

88888888

Exhausted and sore after another sparring session with Hinata, Jiraiya had commanded her to work on target practice with weapons for a bit so he could catch his breath. He wasn't certain what to interpret from his condition; it was either the cumulative effect of allowing her to hit him as many times as she could for the last few days, or she was getting better at hitting him where it hurt. He hoped that it was the latter.

Pulling out his notebook, he decided to go over the notes he had collected and keep all his writing ideas fresh in his mind. As determined as he was to make sure Hinata became good enough to win in the final rounds and advance to Chunin, he couldn't allow progress on his latest novel to fall behind. After several minutes of dedicated studying, he suddenly detected the presence of someone standing next to him. "Wha—"

Turning to see who it was, he came face to face with Hanabi. Giving him an intense glare, she had her hands on her hips and her nose raised in indignation. The look on her face was enough to make him want to burst out in laughter, but he succeeded in keeping his expression serious. "What do you want, twerp?" he asked. "I'm busy here."

"You have the contract to summon toads," she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, never altering the look she gave him.

"Yes," he answered. "Yes, I do. Your sense of hearing functions normally. Congratulations."

"Let me see it," she commanded. Unable to restrain himself, his face turned red as he failed to choke back a peal of laughter. Raising his hand to cover his mouth, he quickly brought it under control.

"Uh, yeah," he finally managed to say, biting down on his tongue. "Sorry, Princess, but no."

"Give it to me!" she yelled furiously, her face burning crimson. "Teach me to summon!"

"You heard what I said," he answered, growing more amused with each shade of red her face turned. Where had this bizarre request—or demand, really—come from? "Summoning is for adults. It can't be taught to people who are irresponsible. Now run along, go play with a ball or something." With that, he placed his palm on her forehead and shoved her away. Hanabi fell backwards and landed on her bottom with a cry.

Climbing back to her feet, she gave him a glare even more furious than before. "I'm tired of this!" she yelled at him. "This entire time you've been making me do a bunch of pointless chores, going back and forth between the estate and the hot springs to give you supplies I never even see you using! Stop treating me as if I were a slave and teach me something useful!"

"I offered to be your sister's sensei, not _yours_," he reminded her. "And it's not as if anyone's forcing you to do the things I ask. Stop being such a bother, I've got important work to do here." He shooed her away, turning his attention back to his notebook as he did so. To his puzzlement, he suddenly felt something latch onto his wrist. Turning back to look, he saw that Hanabi had grabbed onto his arm; judging by the pressure her fingers were applying, she had used chakra to strengthen her grip, most likely in an attempt to hurt him.

"Teach me!" she hissed in anger, her grip growing tighter. Frowning, Jiraiya stood up, keeping his arm outstretched so that Hanabi dangled through the air. Waggling his arm up and down, she struggled to hold on. "Hey—you—stop that!" With one final shake she lost her grip and fell to the ground with a scream.

"I already told you," he said sternly, straightening his sleeve. "No. If you feel like I'm treating you unfairly, then just stop showing up. Your sister's the one who needs all the attention right now, with her battle less than a month away. Did you really think I'd have the time to teach you something as advanced as summoning, even if I wanted to?"

"I know enough about summoning already," she replied angrily. "Just because I'm little doesn't mean I'm as stupid as I think I am. I know how it works, I know all the hand signs. All I need is to sign a contract!"

"Then get one from someone who has the time to teach you," he said.

"I don't _need_ anyone to teach me!" she said. "I've already learned everything I need to about it! All you have to do is let me sign the contract!"

Jiraiya sighed. "Why on earth are you so fixated on getting a toad summon? The Hyugas who do learn to summon generally prefer eagles anyway. They're prideful and arrogant, just like your clan. Go sign an eagle contract."

"No," she responded, angrily shaking her head. "If I bothered to ask they'd just laugh at me. I'm tired of not being able to do anything useful!"

"There's a very good reason they'd laugh at you," he said. "It's because you wouldn't be able to do it. Summoning requires a lot of patience and a lot of chakra to master. You're a bit short on both. You'd only be able to summon a tadpole or something."

The girl gave a frustrated sigh. "_I know that!_" she yelled. "Just let me sign the toad contract, and I'll do the rest. I'll train myself until I can finally summon a toad."

"If you go around summoning toads, Hiashi will be furious," he muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Though honestly, that'd probably be the biggest reason why I should let you do it."

"Please?" she suddenly begged, clasping her hands together and looking up at him with eyes like a puppy. The transition from furious and demanding to adorable and pleading had been effortless. Jiraiya wondered how far it got her with people back at her estate; apparently, pretty far, since it'd take quite a bit of practice to get so good at it.

Folding his arms across his chest, his brow furrowed as he considered the matter. "I guess it's not really any danger. You don't have a whole lot of chakra to begin with, so it's not like you'd be able to summon a toad larger than ordinary size even if you mastered it," he thought out loud. "If you wind up getting into any trouble with summoning stuff when you shouldn't, that wouldn't be something I'd have to deal with. And besides, I can always just tell everyone you stole my contract…"

"Please?" Hanabi repeated, her begging growing more earnest. "Please? Please?"

"And if you're off training with something like this, you won't be bothering me and interrupting my work anymore. On top of that, Hiashi will get pissed, which really is enough motivation in the first place, but in this case it'll just seal the deal. All right Princess, I'll let you sign it."

Hanabi let out a squeal of delight, running to Jiraiya and wrapping her arms as far around his waist as she could reach. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Jiraiya-sensei, you're the best!"

"Yeah, yeah, that's enough of that," he grumbled, prying the ecstatic Hyuga off him. Taking the huge scroll off his back, he laid it on the ground and unrolled it. "All right," he said. "You sign it, and that's it. You go off and you leave me in peace after this. I'm not going to give you any help, even if you ask. Understand?"

"Yes, Jiraiya-sensei!" she answered with joy. Eagerly approaching the scroll, she dropped to her hands and knees and bit her thumb hard enough to draw blood. Momentarily wincing from the pain, she signed her name in the appropriate space, then spread the blood to the rest of the fingers on her hand and left an imprint at the bottom. Standing up, she looked down at the contract, marveling at the sight of her name.

"All right, you got your signature," Jiraiya said, seizing the scroll and rolling it back up. "Now scram."

Hanabi giggled with delight. "Sure thing, Jiraiya-sensei!" She skipped away, and the Sannin replaced the scroll on his back with a sigh.

"The worst that can happen is that she'll keep trying to do it until she collapses from exhaustion," he muttered. "Then she'll probably just give up… At least she'll stay out of my hair from now on." Sitting back down, he pulled out his black notebook and began flipping through its pages, picking up where he'd left off.

88888888

Naruto stared at the large scroll Guy had laid out in front of him. "I'm supposed to sign it with my own _blood_?"

"Correct!" his sensei said.

"And it'll let me…summon a tortoise?"

"Precisely!"

Naruto sat quietly for a moment. "How the hell is summoning a tortoise supposed to help me beat Sasuke?" he asked angrily. "I need to be learning more taijutsu, not something as useless as this!"

"Useless?" asked Guy. "A tortoise in battle is far from useless! How dare you question their worth!"

"Worth? What worth? They're nothing but fat lizards with shells that waddle slower than an old man! How could something like that help me beat anyone? Am I supposed to pick one up and throw it like a rock?"

"You know nothing!" Guy responded fiercely. "Tortoises are perhaps the most reliable battle partner you could ever possibly encounter! They are a moving fortress, and with each step they take their opponents tremble with fear! They possess the wisdom of the ages, the patience of—"

"If you want me to beat Sasuke, then teach me to summon something useful!" Naruto cut in furiously. "Like a lion! Or a tiger! Or a bear! Something that would just tear him to pieces! If you're not going to teach me taijutsu so that I can beat him myself, then the least you can do is have me summon something that would win the battle for me, not waste my time with this crap!"

"Your insolence is intolerable!" Guy roared. "Only a fool would prefer mindless predators! Such an attitude will not go unpunished under my watch! One hundred laps around the village! Immediately!"

"No!" Naruto shouted defiantly, glaring at his sensei. "I'm not putting up with this!"

Guy suddenly seized him by the collar of his jacket, picking him up and carrying him in the direction of Konoha. "I am your sensei!" he thundered. "You will run one hundred laps, and you will contemplate why I have made you run them as you do so! Once you are finished and you have returned, perhaps then you will have a gained better appreciation for the great power a tortoise commands!" With that, he reared his arm back and hurled Naruto in the direction of the village.

Screaming as he flew through the air, he crashed to the ground and rolled for a short distance before finally slowing to a halt. The stream was no longer in sight; while he couldn't tell how far Guy had thrown him, the distance was clearly impressive. Groaning, he picked himself up, rubbing the spot on his back that had been the first part of his body to hit the ground. It seemed that insulting tortoises would make Guy more furious than anything else the Genin could do.

Naruto stood there, contemplating going home to take a nap and then returning, claiming he had run the laps his sensei had assigned. As appealing as the idea sounded, he knew that Guy would be fully capable of telling whether he had run them or not. With no possible way to fake it and trick the Jonin, Naruto began the laps with some reluctance, his face stuck in a scowl for roughly the first twenty.

Growing too tired to remain defiant, he began to consider what Guy said, considering the positives of summoning a tortoise. Try as he might, he could think of nothing positive about them.

Hitting the fiftieth lap, he began seriously regretting he had ever complained about summoning tortoises. At least he was learning something new, right? Surely learning new jutsu would give him some sort of improvement in chakra control, or stamina, or something.

At the seventieth lap, almost too sore to think straight, he finally accepted that having a tortoise accompany him into battle would have some form of advantage. What it was, he wasn't certain, but he knew that it could only increase his odds of victory if it was two on one. If nothing else, maybe he could just pick it up and throw it like a rock as he had said earlier.

After running Guy's hundred laps, he returned to the stream, on the verge of collapse and willing to sign anything the Jonin shoved into his face.

"Have you reconsidered your earlier stance?" his sensei asked sternly.

"Yes," the Genin panted. "Give me the stupid contract…I'll sign it…"

"Excellent!" Guy said delightedly. "I knew you would come around and see sense."

"Yeah, sense, yeah…" Guy brought the tortoise contract to him and laid it on the ground, ready to be signed. Naruto could see Guy's blood signature on it, along with a few other names he didn't recognize. Seeing the contract again, Naruto scowled, and thoughts of refusing surged back into his mind. Pushing the thoughts aside, he swallowed his pride and bit his thumb to draw blood. Falling to his knees, he used his wounded thumb to sign his name on the contract, then left his bloody handprint.

He stared at the parchment, expecting something to happen. Instead, Guy retrieved it and rolled it back up.

"That's it?" asked the Genin. "Nothing special happens after I sign?"

"Of course something special happens!" Guy answered happily. "You gain the ability to summon tortoises!"

Naruto sighed, then shifted so he would sit on his bottom. "All right, fine. So I can summon one of these guys whenever I want now?"

"Not quite," his sensei answered. "You'll have to train in this jutsu and master it first."

_Train? Even more wasted time?_ "Okay, so can we start now?" he asked out loud. "The sooner I get this out of the way, the better…"

"Of course!" Guy said excitedly. "Now, listen and watch me carefully, and soon enough you will be able to summon a battle partner of your own!"

Sighing inwardly, Naruto remained silent, resigning himself to listening to the Jonin's long-winded lecture and observing his enthusiastic demonstration.

88888888

"So this is the border," Hanzaki murmured, looking out at the landscape before him. Consisting of mostly a grassy plain that stretched out as far as the eye could see, there were occasional patches of trees marking it; in addition, there was a tall metal tower several hundred yards ahead of them, and if one were to look hard enough, an identical tower standing a few miles away would be visible.

"With all the buildup going on, it's sort of underwhelming," Roiyaru murmured. "I half expected to see huge fences with barbed wire and guard towers. But there's nothing."

"We do have our air patrols," Gentaru pointed out. "And we always make sure to have a few squads out here to keep an eye out. If there are ever any shinobi to spare, we'll usually relegate them to this duty."

"Still, it's…peaceful," Hanzaki said. "Which is nice, don't get me wrong. Lord knows we'll be hard-pressed to find another setting as tranquil as this in the weeks to come. But it's almost surreal in a way."

"I suppose," Gentaru replied. "But that'll change soon enough. For Fang Country's part, they do have a few Army bases about twenty kilometers east of here. Built it right after the Third Great War, mainly to keep an eye on us and make sure we disarmed. They wound up cutting back on military spending themselves, though; Intelligence says that their military isn't what it used to be. Those base, and any others like it, will probably only be at half capacity."

"I imagine that those bases will be one of our priorities?" Hanzaki asked.

"No doubt," the light colonel answered. "Scuttlebutt says that recently, they've practically emptied out those bases and amassed all those troops in one big camp closer to the border. Shouldn't present too much of a problem, though. They'll never know what hit 'em."

"We've got surprise on our side," Roiyaru added. "Their response time will be slow. This is good, this is very good." He chuckled softly, no doubt fantasizing about Imperial forces crushing their old foes.

Reluctantly turning away from the sight, Hanzaki headed for the small squad of soldiers posted a short distance away, his two companions in tow; three of Gentaru's heavily armored men and a technician manning a large radio set sat around a small table, waiting patiently. The three officers pulled up seats of their own and relaxed. Gentaru, a smoker like Dekiagari, pulled out a cigarette pack and quickly began puffing away; in the outdoors, the smoke didn't linger enough to make Hanzaki begin coughing as he had in the general's office. Roiyaru pulled out what appeared to be some sort of ration bar and began nibbling on it. With nothing to do himself, the colonel simply reclined in his seat, closing his eyes and absently listening to the idle chatter of the soldiers. He would have to return to the encampment soon, but he didn't want to squander an opportunity for a quick nap, especially not in a place as nice as this.

"Those towers are the jammers, right?" he could hear Roiyaru ask; with his eyes shut he couldn't tell if that question had been made openly or directed at someone in particular.

"Yup," Gentaru answered.

"I thought so. I never saw the jammers in person before today, and nobody had really mentioned anything about them to me, but it made sense, seeing how they're at the border like this."

"There're towers like these along the entire border," Gentaru confirmed. "That makes for…a hell of a lot of towers. More than I could count or remember. Keeps the bastards next door from spying on us."

Hanzaki felt a frown tug at his lips. Keeping neighboring countries from realizing that Sound was rearming was only part of the reason the jammers had been constructed. Orochimaru was a wanted man, and by keeping his broadcasts from reaching ears in the Land of Fire, it made it far easier for him to do whatever he pleased without any outside attempt at interference. Had he been discovered, he doubtlessly could have slaughtered any shinobi sent to take care of him, but his plans would have been utterly ruined. An uncomfortably large part of Hanzaki wished that something like that had happened, even if it meant Rice Country would have been left a poverty-stricken and powerless nation.

"If radios don't work at the border, why did we take this thing along with us, then?" Roiyaru asked. He must have been indicating the radio set on the table. This time, the technician answered.

"The towers are pretty sophisticated," the man said. "They won't jam every single channel if we don't want them to. They'll designate a channel to be left open so that, for example, headquarters would be able to message guys like us, a few miles away, at a moment's notice, and we'd be able to respond without any problems. The channel left open would be changed every day, though. Security, you know."

"Ah, that makes sense," the major said. "I suppose couriers wouldn't be able to deliver messages fast enough in case of an emergency. Unless they were ninjas, or something."

"We don't have enough shinobi to spare to have them carry messages," the technician replied. "Almost all of them will be in places like out here, in case they had to detect and intercept some sort of spy or enemy shinobi trying to slip through."

"Colonel Gentaru mentioned that. Has anything like that happened?"

"Not as far as I know. And I don't think that Fang or anyone else would have much reason to try and spy on us, since we've done a good job of keeping them none the wiser."

"Good, good."

The men continued to converse with each other for a while longer, until eventually a relaxed silence descended on the group. As Hanzaki was finally about to nod off, Roiyaru suddenly spoke up once again.

"Oh shit," Roiyaru murmured in a fearful tone; his rare use of an obscenity and the manner in which he said it prompted Hanzaki to open his eyes and give him a concerned look. The major was staring at the sky, his eyes wide with shock. "Is that…?"

Hanzaki and the rest of the men at the table followed his gaze to see a black dot in the sky, which was steadily growing bigger with each passing moment. In seemingly no time at all, Hanzaki could make out two great wings extending from the speck, which flapped every few moments. It was a warhawk, flying from Fang's side of the border towards the Empire's.

"What in blazes…" Gentaru muttered. "That's not one of ours… It can't be one of ours…" He slowly got up out of his seat, never tearing his eyes off the nin-bird. "Son of a…"

"Oh shit," Roiyaru repeated. "Oh shit…"

"Gentaru!" Hanzaki said urgently, snapping out of his drowsy state and bolting from his seat. "Have any of our nin-birds been allowed to take off today? Practice flights or patrols, anything like that?"

"No, sir," replied the light colonel. "We wouldn't have sent up any patrols this early. That bird is flying straight from the Land of Fang, and it sure as hell ain't ours."

"Then where are our own nin-birds?" Hanzaki demanded. Gentaru shrugged.

"I don't know, sir. I guess they're all still penned up."

"_Shit!_" Roiyaru screamed, frantic. "_For chrissakes just blow that son of a bitch out of the sky!_"

"With what?" Gentaru shouted back, losing his composure. "Do you see any artillery lying around here?"

"_We have to think of something! We can't just let him cross the border!_"

"Even if we had some sort of mortar or something with us, do you think that son of a bitch would be stupid enough to fly low enough to be in range?"

Hanzaki, ignoring the two of them, turned towards the men at the table. The rest of the soldiers accompanying them had long since gotten out of their seats to gawk at the intruder. "You!" he barked, pointing at the technician. "See if you can open up communications with that pilot!"

"Yes, sir, I'm on it," replied the technician, turning to the large radio set at his side. All the while, the nin-bird had gotten close enough to them that it was nearly circling overhead. Hanzaki turned back to look at Gentaru, who was still locked in a screaming match with Roiyaru.

"Gentaru! Can the pilot see the encampment from his position?" he interrupted, though he feared that he already knew the answer. Red in the face, the officer turned to look at him and took a deep breath before answering.

"Easily," replied Gentaru, his voice strained. "Hell, he might be able to see the entire army group from where he is."

Hanzaki cursed and looked back up at the warhawk, which had now begun to circle above them. This was far out of his league; he was not informed on how to deal with a crisis like this. The entire damn invasion was very suddenly under threat of being compromised. "Can we talk with the pilot yet?"

"I'm working on it, Colonel," the technician said, his voice high and panicked. "But those jammers, they screw up everything. I'm having trouble finding the right channel…"

"Then hurry up!" Hanzaki ordered angrily. Why did something like this have to happen as soon as he took command? The warhawk continued to circle above them for nearly a minute, during which time Gentaru and the major resumed shouting at each other. The technician suddenly cried out triumphantly.

"I've got it! We're connected to him!"

Hanzaki rushed over to the radio and seized the small phone connected to the set, so quickly that he accidently placed the earpiece next to his mouth. As soon as he corrected himself, he could hear almost nothing but static. As Gentaru and Roiyaru finally brought an end to their argument, all the men looked at him apprehensively, and he found that he was quite unsure as to what he was supposed to say. He hesitated for an instant before finally deciding.

"Unidentified nin-bird," he said, "you are flying in restricted airspace. Turn back and cross the Sound-Fang border immediately." There was no reply for several seconds.

"And who might I be talking to?" asked the pilot from his position in the sky. It was difficult to make out his words above the interference. Hanzaki wondered if the pilot even knew that the people talking to him were directly underneath his bird.

"This is Colonel Hanzaki Fuma of the Imperial Army," he answered. "Identify yourself."

"Impressive army you've got hidden back there," said the pilot, ignoring Hanzaki's command. "It's colossal. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you wanted to invade your neighboring country or something."

So he was indeed a spy. Though at this point, confirmation from the intruder himself was hardly necessary. "Turn back and cross the border immediately. This is your final warning."

"Is that so?"

"If you do not comply, we will use deadly force," Hanzaki threatened. As he did so, he positioned the phone to rest on his shoulder and turned to Gentaru, locking his thumbs together and moving his hands to emulate the motion of a flapping bird's wings. _Do we have any warhawks up right now?_ he mouthed. Gentaru looked at him confusedly, forcing him to repeat the lip movements until the officer understood.

During this time, the pilot sent back another reply, but it was lost in a sudden rush of static. Gentaru shook his head negatively at the colonel's inquiry, and Hanzaki angrily cursed into the receiver.

"…No reason to get so angry about it," the pilot's voice suddenly came back, apparently having heard his outburst. If there were no Imperial warhawks in the air, then it looked like Hanzaki was going to have to put them up there himself.

"Imperial warhawks are en route to your position," he bluffed, quickly turning his attention back to the pilot on the other end. "They will escort you out of Imperial airspace. If you refuse to comply, they will not hesitate to use lethal force."

"Really now?" asked the pilot. "Funny, because I can't see anything up here but a few clouds. No nin-birds in sight."

Hanzaki squeezed his eyes shut in exasperation. As if the problem weren't bad enough in the first place, this intruder was cocky and confident enough to not leave as soon as he had seen the large army based at the border.

"Have it your way," he finally answered. "The next place I see you will be a prison cell." He slashed his thumb across his neck, and the technician quickly switched off the radio.

"Now what do we do?" Gentaru asked. "This is…huge. I don't think…anyone could have expected something like this to happen." Behind him, Roiyaru swore furiously and kicked at the ground.

"Get me in contact with the nearest warhawk commanders," Hanzaki commanded the technician. "Let's see if we can get this guy before he leaves." The man nodded and quickly turned back to his radio set.

As if he had spoken a magic word, the foreign pilot stopped flying in large circles and swerved to face the sun, flying off to the east at a breakneck speed. It seemed his mission was complete.

"Of all the damned…" Within several minutes the pilot had safely crossed the border and became nothing more than a tiny speck.

"I have someone with the warhawks on the line, sir," the technician said a few moments later. "That is, if you still want to speak with a warhawk commander."

"Yes, yes," Hanzaki answered, picking up the phone again. Again, he was not sure what to say or what he should expect from the person he was talking to. But at least this one was on his side. "Hello, who is this?"

"Major Asahara Kotaro. And who might this be?"

"Colonel Fuma, Sixth Army," he answered, barely acknowledging the formalities. "We've got a problem here that requires some warhawks to be sent up. Immediately."

"Exactly what is this problem?"

"A nin-bird from Fang Country crossed the border," Hanzaki snapped, angry about having to describe the situation when there was no time to waste, despite the fact that Kotaro would have no clue about what happened. "We succeeded in contacting him via radio, and it became clear that he saw our army."

Kotaro was quiet for several moments. "Are you sure about this?" he finally asked.

"_Yes I'm sure!_" Hanzaki replied furiously. "He's already retreated to his side of the border, so if we're going to send some nin-birds after him to shoot him down before he can report back, we have to do it now!"

"All right, all right," Kotaro said, his voice beginning to adopt the panic shared by the men accompanying Hanzaki. "Uh…look. Even if we gave the order right now, it'd be about ten minutes before we can send some pilots in the air, since we don't have any up at the moment. Chances are that he's heading for the Fang base closest to the border. With his head start, there's just no way that we'd be able to catch up to him in time."

"Send them up anyway," Hanzaki snarled. "Send up some goddamn patrols to keep another one of those pilots from getting in, while you're at it. Goddammit, why weren't there any up in the first place?"

"Colonel, I'm a squad leader, I'm not in charge of deciding when patrols go up. Hell, I'm not even in a position to help you at the moment. I'd have to notify my superior, who'd most likely want to come and hear it from you, and then he'd be able to order some birds into the sky."

"We have to do something!" Hanzaki yelled angrily, even though it was becoming increasingly clear that nobody could do anything.

"Colonel, believe me, I realize what's at stake. Dammit, if I thought it would make a bit of difference, I'd get on my own warhawk and fly up there myself to chase that son of a bitch down. If we even had a chance of success, I'm positive that we'd be willing to send a squad over the border to get him before he could land, then slip back before Fang realized what happened. But it's too late."

"Major, work with me here," Hanzaki practically begged, growing desperate. "There must be something. There just has to be." Kotaro sighed.

"Sir, I'll get my commanding officer down here," he replied. "Obviously this is something that we'll have to respond to. We'll send up patrols that'll keep watch twenty-four-seven, so nothing like this can happen again. But as for that pilot, I'm afraid he's long gone."

Slamming the phone piece onto the table, Hanzaki cursed and covered his face with his hands, attempting to collect himself. What good could patrols and improved security possibly do now? One breach was all it took, and that damn pilot was no doubt laughing all the way back to base. After a few seconds, he picked up the phone again. "Very well, get your commander," he said, his voice dull and emotionless. "My aide can describe what happened here to him."

"All right, sir. I'll be back in a moment."

As the other end fell silent, he sighed and handed the phone to the major, who took it.

"Sir?" he asked uncertainly. "Is there…some reason you can't talk to him yourself?"

"I'm going back to the encampment," the colonel answered. "I have to inform Dekiagari of what happened here. Then he can inform Ojika, who can inform whoever the hell he reports to, until we figure out what the hell we're going to do about this. I shouldn't waste any more time, not for something like this."

"Yes, sir. I understand."

"Is there anything you want me to take care of, sir?" Gentaru asked.

"Nothing I can think of. I suppose the lot of you can just return to the encampment once you're done getting the warhawks into the air." Taking off his cap, he tossed it so that it landed on the table, then began walking in the direction of the army camp. Turning to give the group a final wave, he picked up his pace, turning his stroll into a jog, then into a run, then into a breakneck sprint before finally using chakra to soar through the air in leaps and bounds. It'd been a while since he'd used any of his shinobi skills, but like riding a bike, it came back naturally.

Wind whipping across his face, he was in no mood to enjoy the familiar feeling. _And to think, not so long ago, everything had felt so relaxing._ Now everything, the hopes and dreams of an entire country, were possibly at stake. Moving as fast as he possibly could, he reached the large encampment after nearly ten minutes. Darting through the large crowds and tents forced him to lower his pace, and he no doubt caught numerous curious looks from the men there. Traveling through it as quickly as he could, he made it to the other side and went back to moving as quickly as possible as he headed for Naikatei. Another ten minutes, and he stood at the entrance of Dekiagari's headquarters.

"Identification," said the guard posted by the door, holding up his hand to stop the colonel. Pulling his ID card out of his pocket, he tossed it at the sentry, who clumsily bobbled it in his hands. "Hey, wait—" he said as Hanzaki continued into the building without pausing.

Moving past him, he ignored the man's attempt to keep him, determined to not waste another moment. Pushing through the crowded headquarters, his large, imposing figure and the hard look on his face cleared a large path for him as he made his way towards Dekiagari's office; he did not look like to be a man that ought to be hindered.

In no time at all, he was at the door of the general's office. Despite the urge to simply barge in, he collected himself and loudly rapped his knuckles on the metal door. There was no reply.

Scowling, he formed his hand into a fist and slammed it into the door; once, twice, three times. When this also received no response, he muttered darkly and reached for the door knob, finding to his dismay that it was locked.

"…Sir?" a timid voice asked behind him.

"What?" he snapped, turning to glower at the man behind him. It was a lieutenant, his face paling as he looked up at Hanzaki. He gulped before speaking again.

"Uhm, General Dekiagari isn't in right now…"

Hanzaki felt like bursting out in hysterical laughter. No one was where they needed to be, were they? Shaking his head, he snorted, turned back to the door, and kicked it open. Nearly flying off its hinges, it opened with a tremendous slam, crashing into the wall; the lieutenant gasped but didn't dare speak up. Moving to Dekiagari's desk, he searched for the phone, eventually finding it under a mess of scattered papers. Pulling it out, he found a list of numbers taped to the phone, and quickly scanned it for Ojika's number.

Finding the general's contact information, he suddenly noticed a listed number that would prove much more useful. "War Minister" it said simply, with the area code for the Imperial City. _So I can cut out all of the people who would have been in between_, he realized. _Excellent. _Exactly why Dekiagari would be able to personally contact such an important official was a mystery, but one Hanzaki didn't care about.

Grabbing the handset, he punched in the listed number and waited impatiently for the man in Imperial City to pick up. Counting each ring anxiously, he breathed a sigh of relief when the minister answered at last.

"Hello?" asked the voice on the other end. It sounded cold and devoid of emotion; it was strangely familiar.

"Yes, hello," Hanzaki said. "We have an emergency down here in Naikatie, and—"

"Who am I speaking with?" the voice asked sharply. "If this call is coming from Naikatie, I should be talking with Noboru Dekiagari, and you are clearly not him. Who are you?"

"I am Colonel Hanzaki Fuma. General Dekiagari is absent, and so I took the liberty of using his phone to call Imperial City and inform you of what happened here."

"Fuma?" the voice lost some of its hostility, but not all of it.

"As I said, sir, we have a very serious emergency here."

The man on the other end sighed. "If there is a problem that General Dekiagari is not able to attend to, you should be able to resolve it locally. You should have contacted General Ojika rather than choosing to waste my time with this."

"With all due respect, I believe this is a problem for the people back at Imperial City to handle. I'm pretty sure that Ojika would need to call you in the end even if I had chosen to speak with him first."

The man sighed yet again, and Hanzaki could imagine him rubbing his temples. "Fair enough. What is this emergency you're so worried about?"

"A foreign nin-bird infiltrated our airspace when none of our own were in the air and capable of intercepting it. Once contact was made with the pilot, it was confirmed that he had spotted the invasion force. He eventually left and flew back in the direction of Fang." Hanzaki gave all of the information in a hurried voice, perhaps out of a subconscious belief that it would be easier to take it in all at once.

There was an eerie silence on the other end for a long moment. When the man spoke again, he spoke in a deadly calm that hid an untold amount of fury behind it. "Who allowed for this security breach to happen?"

"Sir, I have no idea. I don't know who's in charge of air patrols or any other form of security around here. I only arrived two days ago."

"And why were no nin-birds dispatched to shoot this intruder out of the sky?" The voice was growing more furious by the second.

"I managed to reach the men in command of the nearest stationed nin-birds with difficulty," Hanzaki answered. "The intruder had already taken off, and they informed me that he would have returned to base before their pilots would be able to catch up with him."

Another, longer silence followed. "Very well then," the man replied at last, resignation in his voice. "It seems that we need to employ our auxiliary plan. Colonel Fuma, I recommend you ensure your men are prepared to move by the day's end. Our team will have this resolved within twenty-four hours."

At that, the line was disconnected, leaving Hanzaki staring at the phone in utter confusion.

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**Quote of the Day**

"With these few words I want to assure you that I love you and if you had been a woman I would have considered marrying you, although your head is full of gray hairs, but as you are a man that possibility doesn't arise."

- Ugandan president Idi Amin in a letter to Tanzanian president Nyerere


	29. Casus Belli

Hello everyone. Mexicano27 here again. If you checked out this story at any point in the past year, you'd know that for quite a while now I've been busy editing many of the chapters of this story in an effort to bring it up to a standard of quality that I'd be happy with. Unfortunately, the longer I worked at this, the clearer it became that it was an impossible task. I simply screwed things up too badly.

In my mind, the only solution is to scrap all the chapters and start over from the beginning. For this reason, I've decided that I'm going to delete every single chapter except for the very first one, then start the story over in what will hopefully be a much improved version.

I'd delete the entire story, but I did have to consider the fact that it has just over 600 subscribers. Unless they had also subscribed to my author profile, this story would simply disappear from their list and they'd have no idea what happened; they'd likely assume that it was abandoned, when that's not the case.

For old readers who have been following this story (and still remember after all this time what happened in it), I'd like for you to know that, for better or worse, the plot will remain virtually _exactly the same_ as its current version. Was there a scene or plot point about this story that you really liked? It'll almost certainly appear in the rewrite. Was there a scene or plot point that you really hated? Again, it'll almost certainly still be in the story. Five years ago when I wrote this, I rushed to crap out chapter after chapter as quickly as I could manage, and as a result I skipped, ignored, or forgot things that deserved much better focus than they received. In the rewrite, some chapters will be shorter, some story arcs will be longer, and hopefully the story won't be the enormous steaming pile of shit it is right now.

This note is going to be posted at the beginning of both the first and last chapters of the story, and I'll leave it up for approximately a month, so that old and new readers alike will know what's going on. Once a month has passed, I'll be deleting every single chapter except for the first, and I'll begin posting the rewrite.

**PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ANY REVIEWS FOR THIS STORY**

**PLEASE DON'T BOTHER READING ANY CHAPTERS PAST THE FIRST ONE**

**IF THE STORY'S CONCEPT INTERESTS YOU, PLEASE SUBSCRIBE**

**IF YOU WISH TO CONTACT ME, PLEASE DO SO THROUGH PRIVATE MESSAGES**

**Ignis Bellator**

By Mexicano27

_Chapter 29: Casus Belli_

Yugao was convinced that it would have been easier to arrange an appointment with the Lord of the Land of Fire than the Hokage. With the village preparing to receive dozens of foreigners in anticipation of the final rounds, it was easy to understand why he was such a busy man. However, that didn't make the wait any less frustrating. As an ANBU, she had the privilege to walk in and see him virtually any time she wished under normal circumstances. However, these were far from normal circumstances, and the Chunin who handled the Hokage's appointments had warned her that the wait might well last about a month before a slot opened up. Fortunately, she had only needed to wait two days before she received a call informing her that Sarutobi would have time to see her in his office in the morning.

As hers was the first appointment, she had no need to lounge around in the waiting room and was able to simply stride into his office as she was accustomed to. Walking past Anko, instead of receiving a suggestive smirk and wink as usual, the woman gave her a somber nod. Was she feeling sorry for her, or was something else subduing her temperament? Giving the Hokage's aide an emotionless glance, she did not return the wordless greeting and walked into Sarutobi's office without acknowledging her. Anko may not have been responsible for any of Yugao's troubles, but she was in no mood for polite niceties.

"Good morning, Yugao," Sarutobi greeted her as soon as she stepped inside.

"Good morning, Lord Hokage," she returned, quietly closing the door behind her. Whether she was in the mood or not, there were certain people who ought to be treated with politeness regardless.

"Please, take a seat," he said, gesturing towards the chair in front of his desk, giving her a smile as she did so.

"I really want to thank you for seeing me today, especially on such short notice," she said. "I know that you must be unimaginably busy."

"It's no trouble at all," he replied. "I…believe I know why you requested this meeting. I couldn't put it off in good conscience."

"Lord Hokage, I'd never ask that you prioritize my own affairs above those that affect the entire village," said Yugao, realizing that he must have put off a more pressing matter just so she could see him.

"I know you wouldn't. But while Hayate's death deeply affects you, it's also something that affects the rest of the village. Meeting you today isn't necessarily prioritizing the village as a whole below you."

"Still, you must know that I came to…request something." For some reason, she found herself unwilling to say "ask a favor," feeling as if it would have been a poor choice of words, despite the fact that that's exactly what she was here to do.

"Yes, I am perfectly aware," he replied, nodding his head. "While Biko did not personally inform me of the visit you paid him, word did reach me of what had been discussed between the two of you." She was about to say something, but stopped herself, seeing the look he gave her. It wasn't an angry one, or a stern one. It was more weary than anything else. "Yugao, you do realize that the Military Police report to me?" he asked her. "That if there were a conspiracy to make sure Hayate's killer was never discovered, it would be because I commanded as such?"

Her eyes widened at this revelation. "Lord Hokage, I was not aware… I would never accuse you of… I never knew…"

"I didn't believe that you would," he said mildly, interrupting her incoherent attempt at an apology. "I know that the idea of Hayate's murder getting covered up is something that has caused you great distress. I was hoping to put those fears at ease."

"Knowing this now…does help quite a bit," she answered. While the new knowledge ought to have dispelled her worries completely, she had believed so strongly in a conspiracy that it was impossible to simply sweep it all away at once. _I've just become a nervous wreck_, she thought. _I let it all get me paranoid. If the Hokage oversees the investigation, then I know he'd never do something like that…_

"I'm glad," he said. "I hope that you do realize that Biko and the others truly have been doing their very best to find out who killed Hayate."

"Yes, of course. I'd…been out of line."

"You lost a loved one, and you felt that others weren't doing their very best to make sure the man responsible was caught," he said understandingly. "You want to see justice served. Knowing that, your anger is understandable. I just want to assure you that justice will be carried out, and that you have no reason to worry."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," she replied graciously. "Your words do much to calm my nerves."

"I'm only too glad to be of help," he said. Averting his eyes, he sighed. "With that said, I have to inform you that I don't believe I can accommodate your request."

"Lord Hokage, I have not even made my request yet," she said.

"No, you haven't, but it's quite clear that you hoped to get something from me other than reassurance," he responded. "Naturally, you wish to take part in the investigation, and obviously, Biko refused."

"…Yes, that's true," Yugao answered reluctantly. She had been hoping to tactfully bring up the subject of what exactly she wanted herself. "I had been hoping you could overrule him."

"That is within my power to do," he replied. "Unfortunately, I'm going to have to side with Biko on this."

"Lord Hokage, why?" Yugao burst out. "I…I…I'd be an asset to…" Stammering, she attempted to come up with some reason for him to allow her to join the investigation. She hadn't been expecting him to see her only to reject her proposal.

Sarutobi shook his head. "Yugao, believe me when I say that I mean no offense by this," he said. "But you don't know the first thing about conducting a criminal investigation, murder or otherwise. You are an ANBU Black Ops, an assassin."

"I have been trained in tracking," she insisted. "I can find this man, and arrest him myself, if I were on the case."

"Yes, Yugao, you've received instruction in tracking down people on the run," he conceded. "But do you really believe that your abilities in that area would outstrip those of the Military Police? Practically their entire job revolves around that. Could you defeat Biko in a sparring match? Most likely. But can you track down a criminal faster than he can? I highly doubt that."

She didn't reply, knowing full well the extent of the Inuzuka clan's tracking abilities. The Hokage had done a good job of proving the only skill she'd have been able to contribute was subpar to those already working on it. "I can still be of use," she insisted, refusing to give up. This meeting wasn't turning out the way it was supposed to at all. "Besides, having an extra person to lend a hand couldn't possibly hurt."

"Yugao, if I allowed for you to take part, you would only get in the way and hinder their efforts. You have no experience in this sort of thing, and they'd have to hold your hand the entire time, figuratively speaking. You have to understand, if I allowed you to do this, it would get in the way of achieving what you want most of all." As she stared at him silently, he let out another sigh. "I believe some time off would be beneficial for you. I realize that you aren't scheduled to leave on any missions and aren't likely to in the near future, but all the same I'll remove you from the list of active duty personnel."

Not only had she failed to get in on the investigation, now she was going to be told to just sit at home? "Lord Hokage, that is hardly necessary," she replied. "If a mission comes up, I'd only be too eager to carry it out." _If he's not going to put me on the investigation, then at least a mission would have been able to help me keep my mind off things._

He shook his head. "You'll need some time to yourself to recover from all the emotional trauma you've suffered," he explained. "After all, your performance may suffer if your mind is elsewhere."

"My mind would never be on anything other than the mission. I know better than that."

"Still, I know that you won't be yourself until Hayate's killer is caught. And as I just explained why you can't be on the case, that leaves me with little choice other than to give you some vacation time. Find something to do that comforts you. Train, go travel, just indulge yourself with sweets, anything. You can feel free to simply leave the village if you wish, as I will make certain that your name not be called up for an emergency mission."

Yugao sat silently for a minute. She wished that she had never even requested a meeting in the first place. "Lord Hokage, I really must insist that you not pull me from the list of available shinobi," she said. "While I disagree with your decision to keep me off the investigation, I can understand your reasoning behind it. However, I promise that my performance wouldn't suffer if I were to be sent on a mission. I can be relied upon to do anything asked of me."

"In that case, Yugao, I ask that you take a break," Sarutobi replied. "As a personal favor to me, I ask that you relax, take some time to fully recollect yourself, and trust that Biko will have the killer apprehended."

"I…I will, Lord Hokage," she finally answered. "I know that I can trust you to make sure justice is carried out. I'll…find something to occupy my time with. I'm sure that as soon as the murderer is arrested and punished, I'll quickly go back to being my old self."

"Thank you, Yugao," he said in a reassuring tone. "I promise that we'll have him behind bars in no time."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," she said. "And thank you again for seeing me. I really shouldn't occupy anymore of your time." Bowing her head respectfully, she numbly got up from her seat and headed for the door.

"Yugao," Sarutobi suddenly said, and she paused. "Just remember that I'll be here if you need me."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," she repeated. Bowing again, she exited his office, gently closing the door. Forcing her face to remain utterly emotionless, she began to head for the building's exit, never sparing the unusually quiet Anko a glance, and unaware of the gaze that followed her until she was out of sight.

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Sakura wondered who the sentries posted outside of the Nara research lab were. Not their names, exactly. She was more curious about what sort of people would be assigned to such a mundane task. It was no doubt a necessary duty; as Sakura had learned after her last visit, the lab provided the hospital with much of its medicines, and they needed to make sure that no one could simply barge in and steal whatever they wanted. But as far as she knew, no one had ever attempted this, and with nothing to do except stare at the still forest with blank expressions, it seemed like the task would be maddeningly boring. She guessed that the guards would be Nara clan members, assigned to this duty when they had no other missions to go on, and if no Naras were available, then the clan hired a Genin team to do it as a D rank mission.

Judging by the attire of the guards outside the gate this afternoon, different men than had been posted there the day before, they were Chunin (she refused to believe that a Jonin would ever be appointed to something like this), and therefore most likely Nara clan shinobi. However much they were paid to do their job, it wasn't enough, allowing her to pass without showing any interest in the note she held up. If they had bothered to inspect it, they would have seen that it was signed and dated yesterday.

Putting the wrinkled paper back in her pocket, she wondered how many times she'd be able to reuse it whenever she had the desire to pay a visit after she was done working at the hospital. Approaching the front door and knocking, she was unsurprised when Shikamaru was once again the person to answer. She'd expected that he'd be spending as much time up here as he could.

"Oh, you again," he said, his voice bored. "What does the hospital want today?"

"Nothing," Sakura answered. "I'm here because I wanted to talk to you."

He stared at her. "Oh. Well, in that case, it was nice talking to you. Goodbye." He moved to shut the door in her face, but she placed her hand on it, preventing him from budging it. He sighed. "Are you determined to ruin my vacation?"

"…Vacation?"

"I'm not being given any missions since I'm supposed to be in the final rounds. No one comes up here to bother me because they think I must be busy. What's that if not a vacation?"

Sakura shook her head in exasperation. She knew better by now than to try and scold this attitude. "If I'm bothering you just by coming up here, then yes, I am determined to ruin your vacation. I wanted to talk to you, and I was hoping you could give me something. Can I come in?"

Shrugging, he stepped away from the door. "Not as if I can keep you out," he muttered. "Do me a favor though, and don't yell this time. If you're going to come in, the least you can do is keep from giving me a headache."

Walking inside, she noticed that he didn't move to close the door, perhaps hoping that she'd be leaving in a hurry. As he looked at her with disinterest, Sakura nevertheless felt that she owed him an explanation for why she had returned. "I was thinking about what you said," she told him. "And so I started planning. I used everything I knew about Dosu, I analyzed everything I could, and I finally came up with a way to defend myself from his attacks."

"Congratulations," Shikamaru replied, still uninterested.

"And despite the fact that you were extremely rude, sexist, and insulting, I realized that your advice was useful," she went on. "I get the feeling that you're a lot smarter than anyone gives you credit for."

"Just tell me what you want," he replied. "Flattery doesn't get you anywhere with me."

"First of all, I was being serious. And if you're in a hurry to get me out of here, then what I came for is some seasickness medicine. Do you guys have any of that around here?"

His brow arched. "You're at the hospital all day. They ought to be loaded with something as simple as that."

"Shikamaru, they have someone watching over all of this stuff," she explained. "They keep all the medication in one room. All organized, obviously, but there's morphine and other stuff in there that they need to make sure no one can just slip in and steal. There're detailed records of what's being added and what's being taken out. There's no way I'd be able to get away with any."

"Did you ever once consider _asking permission_ _to have some_, instead of just focusing on the fact that it'd be impossible to steal?"

"Of course I tried that. They didn't let me have any, it was against the rules. I didn't bother mentioning it was for the final rounds, they'd probably say it was cheating or something."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "No one could accuse you of cheating. There's no such thing as cheating in the final rounds. Everything's allowed."

Sakura paused, suddenly recalling Kiba's pellets and feeling very foolish. If they allowed something like that, then they probably would allow just about anything. Would the hospital have relented if she had gone ahead and told them she needed the medicine to beat Dosu? Maybe, maybe not. But it might have saved her a trip here. Still, there was no reason to let Shikamaru's opinion of her fall even lower. "I knew that," she lied. "But I wasn't sure they did, and I didn't want them to figure I was a cheater."

"Then you should have shown them a rule book."

"I could have, but it would have taken a while to find someone who had one. It was a lot less effort to just come here instead. You of all people would know about that."

"Fair enough," he answered. Finally closing the door, he began walking in the direction of the store room again. Sakura followed him, despite the fact that he probably could have just grabbed it for her alone.

"Is the lab always this empty?" she asked, noticing that once again the two of them were the only ones inside.

"Not always," he replied. "There's normally some medic-nin working here, turning all the ingredients we've gathered into usable medicine. Lately it's been nice and quiet, though."

"I guess there really isn't any reason for this place to be busy," she commented. "The hospital doesn't have any shortage of supplies, and by the looks of that store room neither does the lab. Everyone gets to take a break."

"Yup," he agreed. Reaching the store room, he seemed to know exactly where the medicine she needed was located, never hesitating or glancing around the room. Pulling a small glass jar full of pills off a shelf, he handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said, putting it in the weapons pouch she kept at her hip. "Are you sure no one will notice this is missing?"

"No one would notice, and no one would care if they did," he said. "It's seasickness medicine, not something really held to be especially valuable."

"That's true," she said. Giving him a nod, she turned to walk out of the room, having acquired all she needed and ready to leave.

"You know, that's pretty clever," he suddenly said.

"Hmm?" she asked, turning to look at him.

"Seasickness medicine," he said. There was a look in his eyes she had never seen before. She wouldn't quite call it admiration; more like respectful. "Dosu's attacks are awfully fancy, sound waves and everything," he went on. "It'd take a long boring lecture from some scientist for anyone to really understand exactly how they work. Knowing that much would be enough to make someone think that it's some sort of super jutsu. But in the end, all they do is screw up your senses and make you nauseous. You can defend yourself from it with cheap, over-the-counter medicine. Pretty ironic, when you think about it."

"I suppose it is," she replied, affording a small grin. She remained silent for a second, a thoughtful look on her face. "You're not going to be doing anything tomorrow, are you?"

"No," he answered slowly. "Why?"

"No reason," she answered, her grin growing wider. He narrowed his eyes slightly, growing suspicious. Turning to leave once again, she waved goodbye and left the room, leaving him to worry about what the look on her face could have meant.

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Tayuya looked down at her attire with distaste. Instead of her preferred clothes, which were both comfortable and singled her out as one of the Otokage's elite Sound Five, she wore the uniform of a Fang Army soldier. A sheathed sword hung from her hip, and a shield bearing the image of a large fang lay at her side within arm's reach—equipment that was purely for show, which she barely had any training in how to use properly. Her real weapon, her trusty flute, was tucked snugly under the leather belt at her waist. A steel helmet lay next to her shield; she found the headgear to be too uncomfortable and bothersome to wear, and she only planned on putting it on as soon as they arrived at their destination.

Jirobo sat next to her, dressed and equipped identically, a perpetual frown on his face as usual. The large stagecoach they were riding in would occasionally bounce uncomfortably, giving Tayuya cause to curse angrily, which led to Jirobo scolding her as he always did whenever she made no attempt to control her language. The shackled prisoners riding with them would jolt uncomfortably along with her every time the coach ran into a bump or pit, but they knew better than to voice their discomfort; she had screamed at them to stay quiet from the beginning of the journey, and would make a point to brutally beat anyone who made so much as a peep.

Flaring her nostrils in an annoyed exhale, she crossed her arms and glowered at the pathetic collection of fear-stricken men before her. With the coach's exit across from her, the second horse-drawn coach of their convoy was visible to her and Jirobo, though becoming increasingly difficult to see in the dusk's growing darkness. That one would be packed with prisoners as well, though the other two in tow were filled with Elite Guards, dressed up and equipped as Fang Army troops like the two Sound Five agents leading them. Tayuya wondered idly how Sound had acquired so many Fang Army outfits; she supposed it wouldn't have been very hard to produce such a small amount in secret, or simply send a few shinobi to sneak across the border and slaughter some soldiers in order to collect their uniforms and equipment.

Leaning back, she made an attempt to calm down and relax, but the coach's tendency to bounce and jolt every few minutes, along with the incessant noise of the trotting horses, made it impossible to find comfort. First there had been the train ride that had lasted for several hours—an uncomfortable train ride, since they had been forced to use a modified one to carry the prisoners rather than a typical commercial model. Upon arriving at the right station, they had to keep a tight watch on their captives as they were led to several waiting stagecoaches and chained up. Now, almost two hours later, they still hadn't arrived at their destination.

Muttering to herself, she ran her fingers through her dark pink hair and shot her prisoners another fearsome glare. This was not a mission that should have had to happen. If only the idiots at the border had possessed a bit of sense, or a single ounce of initiative to take care of the problem themselves, she would be back in Imperial City right now, enjoying a hot bath.

To make matters worse, Kimimaro was too busy to join them on their mission, and Sakon and Kidomaru were not permitted to take part due to their very distinctive appearances. All of the shinobi taking part in this operation had to be completely impossible to identify as agents of the Otokage, and no amount of disguising would conceal an extra head or an extra pair of arms. The skills of the other three members of the Sound Five would have made this mission much easier to carry out; without them, Tayuya would be forced to do more herself, a prospect she was not happy about.

As the ride drew on and sleep continued to prove impossible, Tayuya began trying to come up with ways to occupy her time. After she finished thoroughly inspecting each fingernail on both hands, checking every inch of her uniform for dirt to clean off, and spitting and rubbing on every stain on her helmet and shield until both were sparkling clean, she attempted small talk with Jirobo, who proved too laconic and dull to carry a conversation. Sighing, she pulled the sword she'd been given out of its sheath and began looking at it with disinterest. Both the blade and handle were worn, making it clear that this was a used weapon and not one recently crafted. There was nothing extraordinary about it, and there was no indication that its previous owner had valued it very highly or made any attempt to keep it in pristine condition.

Being a katana model, it could have been forged anywhere in the region. While countries farther west, like the Land of Earth, were heavily influenced by Far Western weapons and generally preferred designs with a cruciform hilt, katanas were very common and easy to obtain there as well. So, it was a sword that was likely crafted out of cheap metal, had never had any semblance of proper care, possessed no evidence that anyone had ever even believed it to have sentimental value, and may well have been carried by some worthless peasant. Tayuya had half a mind to just throw it out of the coach on basic principle.

Resisting the urge, she twirled the blade in her hand and replaced it in its sheath. She could just discard it as soon as the mission was completed. Having run out of things to occupy her time with, she folded her arms across her chest once more and tried for one final time to shut her eyes and sleep for the rest of the journey.

"Do you think we're almost there?" Jirobo suddenly asked. He truly had the worst timing.

"How should I know, you fat prick?" she replied hotly.

"I didn't ask you if you knew," he replied, unperturbed by her vehement response. "I asked what you thought. And don't talk that way, it's unbecoming of a lady."

"You and everyone else keep saying that," she hissed. "Do I _look_ like a lady to you?"

He blinked. "Yes."

Clamping her hands over her face in exasperation, she gave a frustrated sigh. "Forget it," she spat. "Use your mouth for eating, not talking to me. I know you must've brought plenty of snacks. Leave me the hell alone, I'm trying to catch some shut eye."

"With the way this ride has been so bumpy, falling asleep would be difficult."

"Yeah, no shit."

"Tayuya, I asked you to stop that."

"And I asked you to stop talking. If I'm going to be a fine and proper lady, I'll need my beauty sleep. So shut it." Closing her eyes, she turned to look away from Jirobo and pretended to fall asleep. He sighed, but did as she said and stopped talking. Her latest attempt at a nap met with the same failure as all her previous tries, but she screwed her eyes shut and kept up the façade of rest.

She remained that way for as long as she could; as her neck grew sore and she could no longer resist the urge to squirm and shift her position, she opened her eyes and saw that night had finally descended. Through the opening she could see that the stage driver guiding the coach behind them had lit a lantern to illuminate the path ahead; no doubt her own coach and all of the others had done the same thing.

Placing her palm on her chin, Tayuya tilted her head sideways until her neck gave a satisfying _crack_, then placed both hands on her seat and thrust her abdomen forward until her back made an identical noise, dissipating the stiffness that had taken over most of her body.

"Finally awake?" asked Jirobo.

"No, I'm still asleep," she snapped.

"Oh," he said. "Sorry I disturbed you." He turned back to look at the coach behind them. "I think we're almost there."

She snorted. "And when was the last time you've ever been right about any—" Their coach's stage driver suddenly shouted a command to his horses, and they slowed to a halt. Seeing the leader of the procession stop, the coach in tow did the same, causing a chain reaction that brought the entire convoy to a halt.

"I think we're there," Jirobo said, his tone devoid of any trace of irony.

"Yeah, I think so too, you worthless lummox," she returned, earning a disapproving stare from her comrade. Getting up from her seat, she donned her helmet and grabbed her shield, strapping it to her forearm as she headed for the exit at the other end, Jirobo quickly doing the same. The pair of them had been given joint command of the operation, as had been decided by Kimimaro—apart from the Kaguya himself, who was in charge of the team, there was no other form of a chain of command within the Sound Five, with the other four kept completely equal. Giving either Tayuya or Jirobo leadership of this mission would have ruined that, and so they had to command it together. _If I'm able to accomplish anything with this idiot tagging along, it'll be a miracle_, she thought angrily.

Hopping out of the stagecoach, she made her way down the convoy as their small force of Elite Guards swarmed out, quickly preparing themselves for the next phase of the mission. The entire Sound Five had been shown the details of this emergency operation a few months before, apparently before anyone had foreseen that not every member would have been able to go. Then, just before departing Imperial City, Kimimaro had given the two of them an updated briefing, which was mostly just a repetition of what they had heard before but helped refresh her memory.

"Get the prisoners ready!" she screamed at the disguised Guards. "Come on, we don't have all night, move it!" As she commanded, the shackled prisoners were forced out of their coaches; under Tayuya's direction and the careful watch of the Guards, they were all led to a small clearing a short distance ahead. There, the prisoners were shoved towards the center, with Guards forming a ring around the huddled mass. A few of the soldiers had brought lanterns with them, keeping everything visible in the darkness of the night.

"All right, get the chains off, hurry up!" Tayuya shouted, and three men with keys quickly moved to obey, approaching the terrified captives and releasing them from the chains that kept them all bound together. Within five minutes the task was completed, and the three Guards returned to join their comrades in a ring as the confused prisoners continued to cower in fear, unwilling to try and stray from the huddle they had formed even though they were now free to move about.

Jirobo grabbed several large, shapeless sacks, bulging from being packed as tightly as possible. Approaching the captives, he tossed the sacks towards them, causing more than a few to cry out in alarm. The fact that absolutely nothing happened didn't stop the fear from spreading throughout the group and turning into a near mania, with the men clawing at each other and stumbling to get away.

_Fear spreads as if it were a virus for weak-minded filth like this_, Tayuya thought with disgust. The Elite Guards tensed themselves, preparing for the event of an attempted escape. That was something that would make the mission insufferably complicated; she quickly intervened before the situation got out of hand.

"_Shut up!_" she roared at the captives, pushing her way through the ring of soldiers and striding towards the panicked men. Her command had no visible effect. A man was crawling desperately in her direction, looking as if he were about to make some suicidal attempt at escape; she smashed her foot into his face and repeated her order. "_I said shut up!_"

The men did not heed her command, and she realized that she couldn't beat down every last one of them. Furiously pulling out her flute, she played a single note, one which affected everyone in the immediate vicinity; the Guards lowered their weapons slightly, growing lax despite themselves, and the prisoners stopped clawing at each other, slowly calming down. Tayuya grunted. "Now that's better," she said, tucking her flute back away.

"In those sacks you will find clothes," Jirobo addressed the captives, keeping things moving. "Put them on."

Timidly approaching the sacks he had thrown at them, they slowly began doing as he said and pulled out the clothes. To their surprise, all of the sacks were stuffed with yet more Fang Army uniforms—however, they contained no shields, helmets, or weapons.

"What's this for?" one of the prisoners shouted as he held one of the uniforms in his hands, eyeing the Fang outfits worn by his overseers. "Are you…conscripting us or something?" Everything he had experienced so far had no doubt confused him out of his mind; taken from his home by soldiers, thrown into a prison camp, then a few days later forced into a train by a bunch of men wearing the uniforms of a foreign army, and finally brought here and commanded to don an identical outfit. If Tayuya hadn't regarded him and all the rest of them with such contempt, she might have felt a touch of sympathy.

In a flash, she stood before him, and delivered a brutal backhanded slap to his face. Grabbing him by his hair, she picked him up off the ground and pulled out her sword, holding it to his throat and ignoring his pathetic whimpers. "You do what we say, when we say it," she growled. "It's not your business to give a shit why we tell you to do something." She felt an overwhelming desire to just kill this man and use him as an example for the others, but it would likely only terrify the rest of the cowards into a panic. That, and the realization that she'd have to clean up afterwards, convinced her to release him and sheath her weapon. She turned to look at the rest of the group. "_Hurry up you worthless shits!_" she screamed at them. "_Unless you want your guts all over the ground, you'll do as we say and put on the uniforms!_"

The prisoners scrambled to obey, grabbing whatever outfits they could and putting them on. The entire group was clothed within a few minutes; luckily, they had brought enough uniforms, something Tayuya had worried someone might have overlooked. While they had been busy getting dressed, Jirobo had brought forth several crates filled with pairs of boots, setting them down in front of the captives and commanding them to put them on.

At last, the prisoners looked exactly like a platoon of Fang Army troops, missing only their helmets and equipment. Several Elite Guards were holding crates filled with all of that, to be distributed among the captives soon. Tayuya once again issued orders to commence the next stage of the operation.

"All right, form ranks!" she commanded the prisoners. Confused by this new mandate, they hesitated, and stood unmoving. At their lack of a response, she exploded. "_Move it you cocksuckers! Ranks! All of you form ranks now! Come on you worthless sacks of shit!_"

The men quickly and clumsily began doing as she said, knowing she was moments away from resorting to violence to get her way. Their attempt to form neat ranks was laughable, but it would do. Tayuya turned to Jirobo. "If we're in the right place, the village ought to be about a kilometer in that direction," she said, pointing north. "Clear a path through these woods, we don't want all the trees obscuring our vision and letting these men escape."

Jirobo nodded. "Right." Moving to the edge of the clearing in the direction Tayuya had indicated, he roared and slammed his hands to the ground. The earth quaked, causing prisoners and Guards alike to lose their balance and stumble; the ground in front of Jirobo cracked and split, bringing trees crashing down for some distance.

"All right Jirobo, keep the way ahead clear for us!" she shouted, and he nodded. He began picking up the fallen trees, tossing them out of the way as if they were made of papier-mâché and keeping the path to the village clear of obstruction.

"Come on, let's move!" Tayuya instructed the Elite Guards. Breaking their circle, they formed ranks of their own; five columns both ahead and behind the prisoners, and two to march on either side, keeping the captives completely enclosed by armed shinobi. Another shouted order, and the men all began following in Jirobo's wake as he continued clearing the way ahead. He would periodically slam his hands down in a destructive attack to level the woods, then go back to throwing the trees out of the way. No doubt the inhabitants of the nearby village could feel the earth trembling beneath them the closer the group came.

There were two things that had been required when selecting the location for this: that the town be very close to the border, and that a radio station was located nearby. This village fulfilled both requirements. As a bonus, it was relatively secluded and had a very small population, making this mission all the easier to accomplish.

Not moving much quicker than a walking pace, the soldiers and their captives advanced through the woods slowly. Time was not really of the essence, at least not yet, and so Tayuya had no reason to yell at everyone to hurry up. Finally, reaching the end of the woods, the village at last became visible through the thick brush. Jirobo stopped tearing the trees down as Tayuya ordered the group to stop. As the men had remained in absolute silence the entire time, she did not have to wait before issuing her next order. "All right, this is it!" she shouted at the Guards. "You all know what we're here for and you all know how we're going to do it, so there's no use hanging around. Stingray Team, stay with Jirobo. Eel Team, you're with me. Let's move!"

Motioning with her hand, she began walking towards the town, her assigned team swiftly following her lead. The majority of the Elite Guards had been placed in Eel; Stingray was just big enough to keep an eye on the captives and make sure they didn't try anything. Tayuya and her men did not dart with the speed of shinobi, nor did they soar through the air as they were fully capable of doing. They were under the strictest of orders for how to conduct this mission; they had to come across as ordinary soldiers, not ninjas.

Quietly emerging from the thick cover of the woods, the village came into clear view. Several lanterns and torches had been lit, and a number of people had ventured out of their homes, no doubt woken by Jirobo's earthquakes. A radio tower was faintly visible in the distance under the moonlight. "Archers!" she hissed. "Get in position!"

Several of the Guards in her team, equipped with bows and quivers of arrows, quickly moved to form a perfect row in front of the rest of the group. One by one, they grabbed an arrow and lit it aflame, and prepared to fire.

"Take aim…" Tayuya commanded, and waited a moment for the men to choose their targets. "And…fire."

A shower of flaming arrows descended on the town. Many had been aimed at the homes and buildings, lighting up the dry wood, flames quickly spreading; in no time at all, each building would be completely engulfed. However, the Guards had not been above choosing a human target. Several of the inhabitants that had been standing outside in puzzlement suddenly went down, screaming in pain as a flaming arrow bit deeply into their flesh.

"Second barrage!" she commanded. "Hurry up!"

The Guards each pulled out another arrow, this time not bothering to light them. Without waiting for her signal, they fired into the village for a second time. For a moment there was silence, save for the screams of panic and agony from the few villagers who were already awake. All at once, the village was torn apart by a series of deafening explosions, each one powerful enough to destroy a concrete building; with flimsy structures like these, the destruction would be catastrophic. Whoever had been asleep—and was still alive—would now certainly be awake.

Tayuya unsheathed her sword and raised it in the air. "For Fang Country!" she yelled fiercely, and charged in the direction of the devastated village. The Guards with her wasted no time in following her lead, pulling out their weapons and letting out fearsome war cries. Despite having no experience with using a sword and shield, she had no choice other than to just carry out her mission with them, as using genjutsu would have identified her as a shinobi.

The villagers were now swarming out of their homes in a confused panic, which quickly turned into a terrified hysteria at the sight of Fang Army troops descending on them in a murderous rage. With a snarl, Tayuya charged straight into the mob of civilians; unarmed and defenseless, they attempted to scramble away, to no avail.

"Garbage!" she shrieked, hacking and slashing with a mindless ferocity. To her surprise, she found that she quite liked the feel of using a sword in combat. There was something so innately satisfying about it, something she couldn't put her finger on. While outwitting your opponents from afar and tormenting them with illusions had its own rewards, there was something to be said about facing someone up close and personal and cutting them down.

The screams of pain and the sight of blood spilling across the ground only served to exhilarate her even further, heightening her senses and awakening a monstrous bloodlust. "Trash! Scum! Filthy peasants!"

The Elite Guards accompanying her rapidly moved to joined in on her slaughter. In a blind panic, the villagers ran in the opposite direction, desperately trying to flee from their attackers. Determined to not allow her prey to escape, Tayuya gave chase, cutting down each civilian she caught up to. Some of the men with her did the same; others stormed into houses to drag out those who had attempted to hide and avoid the bloodbath taking place outside.

"For Fang Country!" Tayuya repeated. "Show these bastards what we're made of and teach them a lesson they'll never forget! Never allow them to believe they can stand up to the might of the Land of Fang!" The men raised their weapons in the air, howling another war cry, loud enough to rise above the screams of terror.

Having studied a map of the town before the mission, she recognized various structures and icons (despite the fact that most had sustained heavy damage), and was able to navigate through relatively easily. As most of Team Eel had by now fanned out, covering all the houses and buildings as quickly as they could, Tayuya now only had a handful of her men at her back as she advanced. Leaving a trail of blood, they made it past the town square and the marketplace. By now, some of the villagers were beginning to recover from the shock of coming under such a sudden and brutal attack. Rather than behaving like so much sheep, running in blind terror from the soldiers, a few were beginning to run for the nearest path leading out of the village, and a few were making an attempt at resistance.

A glass bottle struck Tayuya in the helmet, shattering into countless shards. Gnashing her teeth in rage, she tried to spot where it had come from, when a book suddenly hurled through the air and hit her in the shoulder. "Where—"

"Up there!" one of the men with her shouted, pointing up at a nearby window. A man had begun throwing his possessions at the attackers, apparently using whatever he could get his hands on. Before she could give a command, one of the men in her group drew his bow, quickly stringing an arrow and firing it at the civilian. It struck the man in the chest; his eyes widened, and he dropped the lamp he'd been about to throw. Clutching his chest, he slumped to the floor, falling out of sight. Tayuya nodded in approval, turning away from the window. Before she could take another step, a fiery explosion suddenly ripped the building apart, sending debris in every direction and nearly knocking her off her feet.

"Oops," murmured the archer. "Wrong arrow."

"Stop being so careless," she snapped at the man, more annoyed by the fact that she had nearly been thrown to the ground in front of her men than by the overkill. Impatient, she didn't wait for the archer to reply and began running in the direction of the northernmost sector of the town, motioning for her men to keep up. The government buildings were located there, along with the village's force of police. If it were possible for the fleeing citizens to rally and a determined defense to be thrown up, it would happen there. Now that the operation had begun, time was precious, and allowing the village to attempt a resistance could possibly slow things down enough to be a problem.

"I hope you have some more of those explosive arrows," she asked as she ran, not turning around.

"I've got a few," came the response.

"Good. Get ready to use them."

Reaching the government sector, there were a number of armed policemen running about confusedly amongst the mob, attempting to find out what had caused such hysteria and futilely trying to restore order. In this part of the city were some of the only structures built out of anything other than wood. Both the police barracks and the large office of the man who had been appointed to run things here were made of stone, and it seemed that the citizens were attempting to seek refuge inside of them. It didn't seem that it would be possible for them to organize any form of defense against the onslaught, but it was better to be safe than sorry. That, and the administrative buildings had been marked as targets to be destroyed anyway.

"How about you bring those buildings down?" she asked, gesturing to the house and barracks. Nodding, the archer quickly fired two explosive arrows each at the structures she had deemed fit for demolishment. Erupting in violent explosions, rubble was thrown all over the place as the buildings collapsed, crushing anyone who had been unfortunate enough to run inside. The horrified screams sharply grew in intensity, and at the sight of Tayuya and her men, they swiftly began fleeing into the woods. Witnessing the destruction for themselves, most of the policemen had the sense to drop their swords and run right along with everyone else. Others, for reasons Tayuya couldn't quite fathom—perhaps a sense of duty, or perhaps inspired to action at the sight of their homes being destroyed and friends being murdered at the hands of despised Fang Country soldiers—threw themselves at the kunoichi and her comrades.

Unlike her, these men had been drilled in the proper use of swords, and to her surprise, she suddenly found herself being driven backwards by the furious assault of a charging policeman. Her attempts at swinging at him were repeatedly parried and she was forced to defend herself with her shield as she continued yielding ground. _Trash_, she thought angrily. To her humiliation, she saw that the men at her side were making quick work of the rest of the police. Enhancing her strength with chakra, she suddenly leaped into her opponent, slamming her shield into his chest and driving him backward. If he didn't immediately realize that she must be a shinobi to suddenly lash out with such a powerful blow, then it wouldn't take much longer until he did. However, it wouldn't make any difference if he was dead.

Continuing to use chakra, she went back to swinging, quickly gaining the upper hand despite the sloppiness of her attacks. If her opponent had been some sort of sword fighting master, her strength would have made no difference; he would have pinpointed the weak points in her careless defense and struck her down. Fortunately, he was just a policeman, whose training most likely comprised of attacking a dummy and occasionally dueling with friends. Angrily slashing at him with strength he could not defend against, she succeeded in knocking his sword from his grasp, and cut him down a moment later. With the attacking policemen finally down, Tayuya and the rest of the men went back to their previous task of dealing with any remaining civilians, eventually returning back to the town square when the government sector no longer held any survivors.

She was not sure how long the assault lasted; as soon as she had charged into the mob, she had lost all sense of time. Knowing the efficiency of the Elite Guards, however, it couldn't have lasted very long. Her uniform soaked in blood and her blade leaving a dripping trail wherever she went, she took a look around the small village, her teeth bared as she scanned for any signs of movement, hoping for the satisfaction of one more kill.

To her dismay, there was nothing but a veritable sea of dead; unmoving, bloody corpses strewn everywhere, without even the sound of someone in pain. It seemed that the soldiers in Eel Team had made sure to afford an extra stab wound for whoever hadn't finished dying. She had a vague sense of shame about reveling in the slaughter of her own countrymen, but she pushed that thought out of her mind without inspecting it very thoroughly. Her actions were never something she felt she had to morally justify to herself or anyone else, but if she had to, then these people were just a sacrifice for the greater good of the Empire. You couldn't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.

"Sir!" called out an Elite Guard approaching her and the men with her, and she swiftly turned to look at him. Even if she had preferred to be referred to as "ma'am"—she really didn't—she wouldn't have been in the state to complain about such a triviality at the moment. "We've completed searching every building and taking care of everyone we found. However, a number of villagers escaped into the woods, in areas where Stingray wouldn't be able to intercept them," he reported. "Should we pursue them?"

"No," Tayuya said, shaking her said. "No, that's perfect. Allow them to reach the closest town and raise the alarm. They have to report what they saw here."

"Yes, sir. Of course."

Eel Team was now beginning to slowly gather and regroup at the town square. Nodding at the Guard, she reached for the small radio at her hip. "Jirobo," she said. "We're ready. Have your team bring the prisoners into the village."

"Yes, Tayuya," his reply squawked from the radio. Several minutes later, the large group of terrified prisoners was led into the village by their Guard escorts; they gawked at the carnage with stunned disbelief and, in a few cases, nausea.

"Gentlemen," she called out to her team, a radiant smile on her face as she gestured at the approaching captives. "I give you…tonight's entertainment." Her announcement earned a chorus of laughter from the Guards.

"Distribute the rest of the necessary equipment to the men now," she could hear Jirobo command his team. Quickly and efficiently, Stingray Team began handing out helmets, shields, and swords to the captives. Despite their initial reluctance to accept them and tendency to cower when confronted with the sight of one of their overseers holding a weapon, the Guards proved very persuasive, and soon enough every last one of the prisoners stood armed and ready for battle.

"Okay you sons of bitches," Tayuya shouted, approaching the group of unwilling soldiers, who gaped at her. Previously, she had been capable of intimidating them with her furious threats and brutal beatings; now that she was covered from head to toe with blood, her appearance alone was enough to inspire a feeling of dread amongst them.

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret," she went on. "Almost all of you are about to die." At this a cry of hysteria rose from the group; Jirobo slammed a single palm to the ground as a warning, causing the earth to tremble and quieting them down. She continued. "But I'm going to make you a very generous offer. All of you fight to the death, right now. Last man standing walks away a free man." None of the men drew their weapons or moved, and only continued to look at her, as if she had been speaking in a foreign language. "Come on, we haven't got all night," she snapped. "The sooner we get this out of the way, the better."

The group simply stood there, staring at her with a mixture of terror and doubt in their eyes. The last few times this had happened, she had exploded into a rage; this time she merely shrugged. "All right, have it your way," she said simply. Approaching one of the captives nearest to her, she grabbed him by the collar of his uniform and thrust her sword into his abdomen. The man shrieked in agony and dropped his sword to the ground; his legs frantically dug into the ground in a futile struggle to back away from her, and his hands instinctively grabbed for the weapon in an attempt to wrench it out of him. The blade bit deeply into his palms, adding to the blood pooling on the ground at their feet. Tayuya turned the blade, earning another shriek of intense agony, then pushed on the hilt until it struck him in the chest. Eyes rolling up in the back of his head, he made a choking noise as blood bubbled out of his mouth; he shivered, letting out one final agonized moan, and crumpled.

The nearby prisoners backed away in panic at the sight, with a few of them raising their swords and shields in anticipation of a fight. Stepping over the body at her feet, she sheathed her sword and clasped her hands behind her back, giving the men a sweet grin. "You can die like men, sword in hand and fighting to the last breath, or you can die like worthless animals. Your choice."

"Well…well, how about we fight you?" one of the captives shouted, brandishing his sword and glaring at her. Tayuya laughed.

"Try it, you piece of shit, and see how that turns out."

Her words didn't do much in the way of cowing the man; with a yell, the faux soldier charged at her, raising his sword with the intention of impaling her with it. He was alone—the others just looked on in horror. If only a few others had had the courage to charge with him…well, the outcome wouldn't have been much different. Tayuya would have been forced to jump out of the way, and the attackers would have simply been slaughtered by the Guard overseers. As it was, she remained with her hands behind her back, a smirk on her face as the prisoner moved to kill her.

The man snarled and thrust his blade towards her; even with her own inexperience when it came to using swords, it was clear that he had no idea what he was doing. Waiting until the last second, she sidestepped his attack, and swung her fist in an uppercut that caught him in the chin. He let out an _argh_, his head snapping upwards; however, his grip on the blade did not falter, and it remained firmly grasped in his hand. Quickly following through, Tayuya grabbed him by the arm, pulling it so that it extended straight out, palm up. Taking care to avoid getting in the way of his blade, she wrapped her arm around his so that his elbow was tightly pressed against her side, then used her free hand to grip his wrist and forcefully pushed down. With a loud series of _cracks_ and _pops_, his elbow bent in entirely the wrong direction, and he screamed, finally releasing his weapon.

Seizing him by his uniform, she hurled him in the direction of the waiting Elite Guards and he landed at their feet. Clutching his arm as he howled in pain and unable to get up, he was powerless to defend himself as the men began to mercilessly beat him. Each of their blows were cold and calculated—they didn't intend to inflict pain, they intended to stomp the very life out of him. They accomplished this in no time at all, leaving him an unrecognizable and bloody mess.

Tayuya turned to look at the remaining prisoners. "Anyone else want to get cute?" she asked them. Still reeling from what they had just witnessed, they stood perfectly still, remaining deathly silent. "Okay then, it looks like we can finally get started," she continued. "For anyone who doesn't want to participate, simply raise your hand, and you'll be escorted out of the match by one of my men here. For all the rest, prepare yourselves." As she turned to walk towards Jirobo, it sounded like one of the captives broke out in sobs, but none of them volunteered to leave the battle.

"This all seems very unnecessary," he said disapprovingly as soon as she stood next to him. "Kimimaro never told us we had to do something like this, all we have to do is kill them and leave their bodies here. We ought to just kill them ourselves, not force them to take part in some battle."

"What difference does it matter?" she asked. "Just relax and enjoy the show."

"All of them are inheritors of a bloodline limit," he reminded her. "I think that's reason enough to just kill them and get it over with, we shouldn't give them some sort of chance to pull something sneaky."

"That doesn't make them ninjas," she said, rolling her eyes at his needless concern. "I doubt any of them have ever received a proper lesson in chakra manipulation, let alone been taught how to perform a single jutsu. Whatever their kekkei genkais are, they won't know how to use them. The doctors at the camp check for this sort of shit, you know."

"Stop that. And still, you never know, the doctors might not be right every time. They have to check out so many prisoners, a strong one's bound to slip through."

"Then I guess that strong one's going to be the winner. Who's your money on?"

"You can never tell who the strongest is on looks alone."

"That's what makes it fun to guess," she countered. "Now who do you pick?"

He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the collection of armed captives. "If I guess right, you owe me lunch."

"Fair enough. If I win, you go one day without telling me to behave."

Jirobo grunted. "I pick the guy towards the left. Red hair, carrying a longsword."

"Guy towards the center. The one with the big dent in his helmet." The two looked at each other and nodded; Tayuya left his side to return to the prisoners who were once again encircled by a ring of ready Guards.

"I hope you're all ready!" she shouted. "Because the battle starts right now! _Fight!_"

There was a moment of hesitation at the sudden command. Then, with a cry, one of the prisoners turned to the man next to him and thrust his sword into his chest. The group of prisoners immediately devolved into a crowd of desperate fighters, slashing, hacking, and stabbing each other in a panicked frenzy. If a man's sword were knocked out of his hand, he continued his struggle, bashing with his shield and tearing at his opponents with his teeth and nails. Tayuya's eyes glinted and a smile formed on her face at the sight of such a grand spectacle.

To her dismay, the man she'd chosen went down after a sword was thrust into his back, though she was able to breathe a sigh of relief when Jirobo's pick had his throat slashed. The audience of jeering Guards appeared to have made bets of their own, with some of them reacting with cheers and applause while others shouted angrily whenever a prisoner was killed. Finally, after almost ten minutes, the number of fighters had been whittled down to two.

One man, who'd lost both his helmet and shield in the scrap, now held onto his sword tightly with both hands; his opponent had lost neither, still possessing all the parts of the original outfit given to him. The two of them eyed each other suspiciously, slowly walking in a circle around the corpses of their fellow prisoners, never tearing their eyes off each other. The audience, thrilled at the prospect of watching the best fighters of the bunch finally clash, began to excitedly yell praise to whoever they favored.

The prisoner who had only his sword suddenly charged, moving with speed far above what a normal person could achieve. Apparently Jirobo had been right—this one knew how to use chakra, regardless of how sloppy and inefficient. The attacker's opponent raised his shield, preparing himself to defend against the incoming assault. At the last second, the charging fighter jumped and spun in the air, bringing his blade to come slashing down on his enemy's neck at an angle the man couldn't hope to avoid or defend against. It looked like the superior fighter out of the pack had been revealed.

The blade slammed into the defender's neck—and made a noise as if it had struck solid rock before bouncing off. Tayuya blinked in surprise, then grinned at this turn of events; the spectators erupted into a frenzy at this, with most of them yelling furiously. It seemed that most of them had decided to root for the man with no defenses.

Moving to seize the initiative, the helmeted prisoner swung his sword, slashing his opponent's leg before he could land. The first prisoner let out a grunt of pain, but landed on his feet and leaped away from his enemy's reach. Staring at his enemy, he was clearly attempting to figure out how he'd be able to kill an opponent with impenetrable skin. Looking down at his feet, he picked up a discarded sword, so that he was now carrying one in each hand. Attempting to take a step forward, he suddenly grimaced and stumbled, almost being forced to kneel before he steadied himself.

Picking up on the man's weakness, the second prisoner raised his sword and charged. The first prisoner attempted to take a step backward but couldn't manage it; he was stuck. Rearing his blade above his head, the second prisoner closed in and prepared to bring it slamming down on his enemy. Laughing in triumph, the first man leaped up in attack, spinning in midair and slashing at the helmeted captive's face with both blades, likely in an attempt to strike him in the eyes. Unfortunately for him, his blows never made contact with anything but thin air.

The second prisoner had been performing a fake out; maybe he hadn't been fooled by the façade of weakness, or he had done it as a precaution, or perhaps he just had a fondness for misleading attacks. Whatever the case, he had spun on his feet and lowered his blade at the exact instant his opponent sprang into action, too early to have been a response; he had clearly been planning to do it from the moment he'd charged. As the first prisoner's attack missed completely, the second's shield swung outward and bashed him in the side, knocking him out of the air and sending him crashing to the ground.

Before the dual wielding man could recover, his assailant was on him. Flipping his weapon, he altered his grip of the sword's handle so that the blade pointed downward, then quickly fell to one knee and thrust it into his enemy's chest. The first man let out a shriek as the blade pierced his flesh, then lay still. With the grand battle finally concluded, the Guards exploded into wild cheers. The helmeted prisoner remained there for a moment, taking several deep breaths. Letting go of his sword, he left it embedded in his opponent's chest and stood up, wiping his brow with his sleeve.

Without uttering a word, he unstrapped his shield from his forearm and cast it to the ground, then began walking away towards the ring of soldiers surrounding him; their celebrations having subsided, they quieted down and stared at him. His face emotionless, he attempted to force his way through, but the Guards grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him back to the ground. He glared up at them. "I won," he said angrily, getting back onto his feet. "I'm free. I'm leaving."

"Woah, hang on a minute," Tayuya intervened, curiosity getting the best of her. She made her way through the ring and approached the man with a grin on her face. "I believe congratulations are in order. Those were some impressive moves." The captive glared at her but said nothing, and she moved to pinch his neck. He fiercely knocked her hand away, but not before she felt how soft and ordinary his skin felt. "What was up with that shit where the other guy's sword hit your neck but didn't do anything?"

"It's my bloodline limit," he answered angrily. "We use chakra to harden any area of our skin we want to at will. Not even solid steel comes close to matching our defense."

"I see," she said, nodding her head. It seemed the camp had been sloppy in choosing which captives would be used for this operation. Unsheathing her sword, she extended her arm and tapped the end of the blade against the man's cheek. It clinked as if she were tapping it against solid stone. "No wonder you made it all the way to the end. Awfully hard to kill a man whose skin turns steel." Looking him over, her eyes narrowed slightly and her head tilted.

"Yes," he spat, brushing her sword away. "Now, as you said, I'm free, so if you'll excuse me…" He moved towards the ring of Guards once again, but Tayuya grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to spin and face her. "Don't touch me!" he said angrily, moving to knock her hand away again.

Before he could react, she suddenly thrust the length of her blade through his parted lips, impaling the roof of his mouth; the weapon met with no resistance until it pierced through his skull and came into contact with his scalp. A moment later, and that too gave way. The man convulsed violently for a second, then collapsed at her feet. "Hard man to kill, you worthless shit, but not hard enough." Turning away from the slain prisoner with a sneer, she stabbed her sword into the soft ground, then removed her helmet and laid it to rest on the weapon's hilt. With this finally done, there was now only one remaining stage of the operation to complete.

Contemplating silently, she made some quick calculations in her head. If the escaped villagers had moved extraordinarily fast, then the alert may have been raised and the nearest base of militia could be scrambling by now. There was no time to lose.

"Come on," she addressed the Guards, raising her voice. "We're almost done. Last stop is the radio tower. Hustle!" She began walking towards the structure in the distance, Jirobo and the rest of the men quickly moving to follow.

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**Quote of the Day:**

"I think when Bill Clinton was governor and not paying proper taxes, he was trying to find sources of income to please Hillary. He seeks money for the woman's pleasure, to buy her gifts. Women push men to crime."

- Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky


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